Cowboy Space Raises $275 Million to Develop Rockets for Orbital Data Centers

The demand for artificial intelligence compute is pushing data center developers to consider placing facilities in orbit. A central obstacle remains the limited availability and high cost of rockets capable of delivering the necessary hardware to space.

Most existing proposals for space-based data centers rely on vehicles such as SpaceX’s Starship, which is scheduled to conduct its twelfth test flight as soon as this weekend.

However, even after Starship becomes operational, commercial availability could be delayed for years due to the company’s own satellite deployment needs. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket also faces development challenges after failing to deliver a satellite on its third launch in April.

As a result, many projects are targeting the mid-2030s for deployment or focusing initially on edge processing for space-based sensors.

One company has chosen a different approach by developing its own launch capability. The company stated it is establishing its own rocket program with the goal of conducting its first launch before the end of 2028. It announced the closing of a $275 million Series B funding round at a post-money valuation of $2 billion.

The round was led by Index Ventures with participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Construct Capital, IVP and SAIC. The startup was founded in 2024 with initial plans to collect solar energy in space and beam it to Earth. It later pivoted to using that power for onboard data centers before determining that dedicated rockets would be required to achieve competitive economics against ground-based alternatives.

Company representatives said they had contacted multiple launch providers but concluded that available capacity over the next three to four years would be insufficient to support large-scale orbital data center operations. They added that many new rockets are expected to come online, yet supply is likely to remain constrained, with some providers focusing primarily on their own payloads.

Developing a rocket in-house places the company in competition with established players that have spent years advancing similar systems.

Only a small number of private Western companies currently conduct regular commercial launches, while several others continue working to move vehicles from development to operational status. The company’s design integrates data centers directly into the second stage of its rocket, an approach reminiscent of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1.

Each unit is planned to have a mass of 20,000 to 25,000 kilograms and to generate 1 MW of power to support just under 800 onboard GPUs. The rocket would be slightly more powerful than the Falcon 9 but smaller than the under-development Starship. The booster stage is eventually expected to be reusable.

The company has hired veterans from the space industry and plans to develop its own rocket engine. It is still determining requirements for testing, manufacturing and launch facilities. The rebranded company aims to emphasize powering operations from orbit.

" — Company founder (@techcrunch) The startup sees growing AI demand and increasing limitations on terrestrial data center options as supporting the case for its approach. It maintains that the overall market size allows room for multiple participants.