SpaceX claims it will put a Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system into orbit next year
And fly ‘significant scale’ in 2028 – a claim that isn’t entirely bonkers, but needs a solid grain of salt
SpaceX is planning to launch a Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale system into orbit next year, according to Elon Musk. This announcement was made on the X platform, which Musk uses to provide contextual data for the Grok models developed by SpaceX. The NVL72 system, developed in partnership with Nvidia, will consist of 72 GPUs, 36 CPUs, ConnectX-9 SuperNICs, and BlueField-4 DPUs, all housed in 18 compute trays.
Each unit plus the rack is estimated to weigh around 4,000 lbs or 1,800kg. The specifics of the rocket SpaceX will use for the launch have not been disclosed. Nvidia's MGX racks, which house each NVL72 system, are approximately 600mm x 2,293mm x 1,068mm deep, suggesting that several racks could fit within the Falcon 9's fairing.
The NVL72 system is designed to draw 120 kW and utilizes liquid cooling. SpaceX's datacenter satellite design includes a 210 kW solar array and liquid radiators to reject heat into the vacuum of space, leveraging SpaceX's experience in operating vehicles on-orbit. While the concept appears feasible, challenges remain due to the complexities of space travel.
Written by urgent.news from The Register Science's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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