BENGALURU: India may soon take a step into a new phase of computing, with its first homegrown large language model (LLM) potentially being trained in space as early as this year.
Space-tech startup Pixxel announced a partnership with AI firm Sarvam AI to develop what they describe as India’s first orbital data centre satellite, named The Pathfinder. The satellite, weighing 200 kg, is expected to reach orbit by the end of 2026.
According to Pixxel, the satellite will carry GPUs used for training and running Sarvam’s AI models. Unlike traditional satellites that rely on low-power processors designed mainly for survival, Pathfinder will use hardware similar to that found in ground-based data centres that power advanced AI systems.
The announcement comes at a time when companies such as Google and SpaceX are exploring space-based computing to overcome Earth’s growing energy constraints. Global data centre capacity is projected to reach 200 GW by 2030, according to JLL, while a report by Morgan Stanley estimates India’s capacity could rise from 1.8 GW to about 10.5 GW by 2031.
Rising energy demands and public resistance to large data centres have pushed companies to consider alternatives. SpaceX has said it aims to launch up to one million data-centre satellites, while Meta has partnered with energy startups to explore solar power beamed from space.
India’s own Indian Space Research Organisation is also studying next-generation satellites capable of onboard data processing and storage.
Despite the interest, experts have questioned the feasibility of orbital data centres, pointing to high launch costs and the difficulty of repairing hardware in space.
Under the new partnership, Pixxel will design, build, launch, and operate the Pathfinder satellite at its upcoming Gigapixxel facility. Sarvam will manage AI model training and inference directly in orbit, without relying on foreign cloud infrastructure.
The mission aims to test real-time AI processing in space, including performance, power management, and thermal constraints.
“Orbital data centres open up a new frontier, where compute can be powered by abundant solar energy, operate closer to space-based data, and move beyond some of the limits faced on Earth,” said Pixxel CEO Awais Ahmed.
Sarvam CEO Pratyush Kumar added, “Having India-built models running in orbit aboard an India-built satellite is exactly the kind of foundational capability that the country needs to control its own intelligence infrastructure.”
