Fun blog post from Andrew McCalip that attempts to build a model of the unit economics of orbital data centers. It looks like they’re just about feasible but really there’s only one player in town. This paragraph is key I think:

This isn’t about talent. It’s about integration. If you have to buy launch, buy buses, buy power hardware, buy deployment, and pay margin at every interface, you never get there. The margin stack and the mass tax eat you alive. Vertical integration isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the whole ballgame.

I love the thoroughness and thought which has gone into this and I’d love more ideas to be explored this way in public. It shows where the bar is for great writing of this type I think. Worth a read.