Elon Musk Says SpaceX’s Starmind AI Satellites Could Pack in More Power Than ISS — NVIDIA’s AI Racks Are Coming to Space

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.‘s (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk believes that the commercial spaceflight company’s Starmind constellation of AI compute satellites would be more powerful than the International Space Station.

Starmind Satellites’ 250 kW of Solar Power

In a post on X on Thursday, Musk quoted a post by user X Freeze which compared the scale of SpaceX’s satellites. “Each @SpaceX Star Mind super intelligence spacecraft will have over 250kW of solar power, which is about 20% more than the International Space Station,” Musk said.

Each @SpaceX Star Mind super intelligence spacecraft will have over 250kW of solar power, which is about 20% more than the International Space Station https://t.co/XeSefgo6UY

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2026

Musk expanded on his views in response to a post by investment firm Mach33 founder Aaron Burnett, which predicted that Starmind AI satellites would be able to generate up to $50 million in revenue using NVIDIA Corp‘s (NASDAQ:NVDA) NV72 AI rack at “1/3rd the token price of today’s grok 4.7 prices”

That’s a lot of power. And part (I suspect) of the expected move up to ~4t sat mass. Last we heard 250kw was battery supported peak.

Also my rough napkin math is that each StarMind (250kw Rubin NVL72 rack equivalent) can generate $25-$50M per sat (wide range I know) at 50%… https://t.co/IYHYotkOon

— Aaron Burnett (@aaronburnett) October 1, 2026

Musk shared his take, saying that he was “cautiously optimistic” that SpaceX could operate the “SpaceX version of the VR72 at close to 250kW average power, meaning peak power would be ~10% higher.” The billionaire added that it was a “big deal” if it happened and could see applications in earth-based AI compute too.

“The close working partnership and co-design with the amazing @Nvidia engineering team is key to achieving this,” Musk said in his response.

I am cautiously optimistic that we will be able to run the @SpaceX version of the VR72 at close to 250kW average power, meaning peak power would be ~10% higher.

This is a big deal if it pans out and would apply to our ground-based systems too. The close working partnership and…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2026

AT&T CEO Remains Skeptical

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) CEO John Stankey dismissed fears that SpaceX’s Starlink would surpass traditional telecom providers. Stankey outlined several challenges to deploying a satellite-based cellular network, which SpaceX could intend to do, according to President Gwynne Shotwell.

Stankey is not the only one who has been skeptical, with T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS) CFO Pete Osvaldik earlier saying that there could be “a million satellites up there with all the spectrum in the world,” but any company “can’t break the fundamental laws of physics.”

NASA Administrator Hails Starship Launch

Following SpaceX’s successful Starship orbital flight with Flight Test 14, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman called the event a “gorgeous” launch.

The administrator then said the agency would help SpaceX with its future endeavors. SpaceX deployed its first batch of Starlink V3 satellites with the launch, which Musk has touted to provide 100 times more bandwidth than current-gen satellites.

Price Action: SPCX shares were up 0.66% to $149.05 during overnight trading on Thursday.

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