Responding to a report on the potential of autonomous construction in orbit, Musk stated on X that SpaceX could repurpose its Starlink V3 satellites for space-based data operations. "Simply scaling up Starlink V3 satellites, which have high-speed laser links, would work. SpaceX will be doing this," he wrote. With SpaceX operating the largest satellite constellation in existence, this statement instantly positioned the company at the forefront of a potential new era in data storage and processing.

The concept of orbital data centers has drawn attention from several tech billionaires. Earlier this year, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt acquired Relativity Space to pursue his own space-data ambitions, while Jeff Bezos predicted that gigawatt-scale data centers could orbit Earth within two decades. Advocates say the approach offers unlimited solar power and eliminates the environmental footprint associated with terrestrial data centers, while skeptics warn of high costs and significant technical hurdles.

Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space, told Ars Technica that industry momentum is accelerating. "The amount of momentum from heavyweights in the tech industry is very much worth paying attention to. If they start putting money behind it, we could see another transformation of what's done in space," he said. Henry added that with Starlink's rapid evolution, data processing and storage in orbit are natural extensions of what satellites already do.

SpaceX's next-generation Starlink V3 satellites could be the key. The current V2 minis offer about 100 Gbps of downlink capacity, while the V3 versions are expected to reach 1 Tbps -- a tenfold increase. Musk's company plans to launch around 60 of these high-capacity satellites per Starship launch, potentially beginning in early 2026. If successful, these satellites could serve as the backbone for the world's first commercial data centers in space, setting the stage for another historic transformation driven by SpaceX.