Photo: Nvidia

Computing giant Nvidia announced new chips for space missions on Monday, geared toward applications like orbital data centers, geospatial intelligence and autonomous space operations.

A number of space companies — Aetherflux, Axiom Space, Kepler Communications, Planet Sophia Space, and Starcloud are working with Nvidia to power their missions. 

Nvidia announced Monday during its GTC 2026 event that the Space-1 Vera Rubin Module is its new accelerated platform for space. Nvidia called it “data-center-class AI at scale,” to enable large language models and advanced foundation models to operate directly in space. 

Separately, both the IGX Thor and Jetson Orin platforms deliver energy-efficient, high-performance AI inference, image sensing and accelerated data processing for edge computing on orbit in a compact module.

Nvidia CEO and founder Jensen Huang called space computing “the final frontier.” 

“As we deploy satellite constellations and explore deeper into space, intelligence must live wherever data is generated,” Huang said. “AI processing across space and ground systems enables real-time sensing, decision-making and autonomy, transforming orbital data centers into instruments of discovery and spacecraft into self-navigating systems.”

Aetherflux plans to work with Nvidia to use the Space-1 Vera Rubin Module toward its goal of deploying satellite constellations to serve as hubs for AI compute in orbit.

“At Aetherflux, we’re pioneering a new paradigm for power and compute in space. Nvidia Space-1 Vera Rubin Module delivers high-performance, energy-efficient AI at the edge in orbit, powered by solar energy. This enables autonomous operations and mission-critical services, and unlocks scalable, space-based AI infrastructure beyond Earth,” Aetherflux founder and CEO Baiju Bhatt said in a statement. 

Kepler Communications is using the Jetson Orin, which CEO Mina Mitry commented allows the company to intelligently manage and route data across its constellation.