India’s First Orbital Data Centre Mission, TakeMe2Space Plans to Launch Satellites

India’s First Orbital Data Centre Mission, TakeMe2Space Plans to Launch Satellites 

Why in News?

Recently, TakeMe2Space announced India’s first networked orbital data centre mission, planning to launch two 100-kg satellites in 2028.

What is the Orbital Data Centre Mission?

• About: The Orbital Data Centre Mission is India’s first networked orbital data centre mission, which aims to move computing from conventional ground data centres into Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
  • An orbital data centre is a space-based computing infrastructure where data storage, processing and AI computation occur aboard satellites. 
  • It handles massive artificial intelligence and cloud computing tasks using continuous space-based solar power.
• Announced By: The project has been announced by TakeMe2Space, an Indian space-tech startup based in Hyderabad, founded by Ronak Kumar Samantray.
  • The company is developing the MOI (My Orbital Infrastructure) family of satellites and describes its long-term objective as building computing and storage infrastructure in orbit.
• Mission Architecture: The mission is planned around two 100-kg MOI constellation satellites. They are intended to operate as a connected computing cluster, sharing workloads and information through optical inter-satellite links.
  • Each planned satellite is expected to carry 10 NVIDIA Thor GPUs, approximately 100 TB of storage, a one-metre multispectral imager, and about 1.5 kW of power-generation capacity. 
  • The mission is planned for a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch under the Waymaker 2 rideshare mission.
  • A major feature is optical inter-satellite communication, essentially laser-based communication between spacecraft.
    • It can allow the satellites to exchange data and computing workloads directly in orbit, helping create a distributed orbital computing architecture rather than isolated satellites.
• Launch Arrangement: TakeMe2Space has signed a Launch Service Agreement with RIDE!, under which two satellites are planned for deployment through the Waymaker-2 rideshare programme.
  • The launch is targeted for 2028, with RIDE! stating a Q3 2028 deployment target.
    • The two 2028 spacecraft are part of a broader planned six-satellite constellation. 
    • The constellation is intended to provide daily global coverage with onboard computing. 
  • The proposed satellites are expected to generate about 1.5 kW each, illustrating one of the major engineering constraints of orbital data centres.
• Important Precursor: The 2028 mission follows the successful MOI-TD technology demonstration, launched aboard PSLV-C60 on 30 December 2024 through ISRO’s POEM-4 platform.
  • ISRO describes MOI-TD as a technology demonstrator for real-time Earth-observation processing, involving the uploading of three machine-learning models, in-orbit computation and downlinking of inferences.
    • The company’s next important milestone is MOI-1A, tentatively scheduled for October 2026. 
    • The company says this satellite will provide orbital computing using a 117-TOPS GPU, 16 GB RAM and a nine-band multispectral optical imager. 

Space-Based Computing

• About: Space-Based Computing or Orbital Computing is the practice of processing, analyzing, and storing data directly on satellites, spacecraft, or orbital platforms in space rather than sending raw data back to Earth for ground-station analysis.
  • Orbital platforms act as Edge or Cloud Computing nodes. They process data at the source of generation (in space) and transmit only refined, actionable insights back to Earth.
• Benefits:
  • Abundant, Continuous Energy: Satellites deployed in specific orbits enjoy near-continuous exposure to high-intensity solar power. This provides an uninterrupted, clean energy grid free from atmospheric degradation. 
  • Water-Free Radiative Cooling: Terrestrial data centers consume millions of tons of freshwater annually for heat dissipation. In contrast, the deep vacuum of space acts as a massive thermal heatsink (~ -270°C), allowing for radiative cooling without water consumption.
  • Overcoming Data Transmission Bottlenecks: Modern hyperspectral and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites generate massive datasets. Terrestrial downlinks are constrained by limited radio frequency bandwidth and short ground-station visibility windows. On-orbit edge computing minimizes downlink payloads by filtering out redundant data.
  • Physical Security and Sovereign Autonomy: Orbital infrastructure remains immune to terrestrial natural disasters, localized cyberwarfare, and physical sabotage. It also enhances technological sovereignty by bypassing foreign cloud frameworks.
• Applications:
  • Disaster Management: Real-time onboard analysis of satellite imagery to map active forest fires, track cyclone paths, or evaluate flood extents instantly without terrestrial delays.
  • Defense & Security: Autonomous tracking of naval movements, border incursions, and early warning surveillance processing directly in orbit.
  • Precision Agriculture: Fast processing of hyperspectral data to detect crop diseases, assess soil moisture content, and manage regional food security programs.
  • AI Workload Offloading: Execution of high-intensity Generative AI and deep machine learning workloads in orbit, bypassing land and energy constraints on Earth.
• Global Scenario:
  • Axiom Space: Launched the first dedicated orbital data center nodes on January 11, 2026, to test high-speed optical links in orbit.
  • Starcloud: Tested NVIDIA H100 chips in space and trained early large language models off-Earth.
  • SpaceX & Blue Origin: Filed major constellation proposals with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to scale orbital compute infrastructure.
  • Google & Microsoft: Tech conglomerates are testing orbital infrastructure, notably through Google’s Project Suncatcher (deploying solar-powered TPU clusters) and Microsoft Azure Space compute nodes on the ISS.
  • China: Advancing an integrated “Space Cloud” network strategy, highlighted by successfully running general-purpose AI model inference directly on experimental orbital systems.
• India’s Initiatives:
  • Pathfinder Satellite: Developed through a partnership between space-tech startup Pixxel and AI firm Sarvam AI, this mission integrates data-center-grade GPUs with hyperspectral imaging to run AI inference models directly in orbit.
  • Policy Support: The Indian Space Policy and the creation of IN-SPACe have streamlined commercial participation, backed by a 100% automatic Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) route for satellite manufacturing.
    • India’s Indian Space Policy 2023, liberalised FDI framework and IN-SPACe authorisation system have created an institutional environment for private space innovation.
• Challenges:
  • Thermal Management Constraints: While the vacuum of space is cold, it lacks air molecules for convection. Dissipating dense heat generated by high-performance GPUs requires complex thermal infrastructure, such as liquid ammonia loops and massive infrared radiator panels.
  • Cosmic Radiation Vulnerability: Solar flares and cosmic rays cause hardware degradation and “bit flips” (Single Event Upsets) in standard commercial microchips. Developing radiation-hardened or fault-tolerant edge processors remains expensive.
  • Hardware Lifespans & Upgrades: Terrestrial servers are routinely upgraded every 3 to 5 years. Once a computing satellite is launched, physical maintenance, hardware replacement, and physical component scaling become exceptionally difficult.
  • Space Debris Crisis: Deploying computing constellations adds to low Earth orbit (LEO) congestion. This escalates the risk of the Kessler Syndrome—a cascade of orbital collisions that could render specific altitudes unusable.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

1. What is TakeMe2Space’s orbital data centre mission?
A planned networked orbital computing mission using two satellites to process, store and share data in space. 

2. When will India’s first networked orbital data centre launch?
It is targeted for late 2028, aboard the Waymaker-2 rideshare mission.

3. Which company is developing India’s orbital data centre?
Hyderabad-based TakeMe2Space, an Indian space-tech startup, is developing the orbital data-centre system.

4. How will TakeMe2Space satellites process data in orbit?
NVIDIA Thor GPUs will process Earth-observation data onboard, while optical links enable workload and data sharing between satellites.

5. Which rocket will carry the TakeMe2Space mission?
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 will carry the two satellites through the Waymaker-2 rideshare mission. 

Disclaimer: Information in this article is based on official announcements and public records. Details may evolve over time.