{
  "id": 16780843,
  "title": "Cowboy Space unveils 'Big Iron' rocket to launch 20,000 AI data centers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/27/cowboy-space-unveils-big-iron-rocket-to-launch-20-000-ai-data-centers",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-27T18:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Space.com",
    "slug": "space-com",
    "url": "https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/cowboy-space-unveils-big-iron-rocket-to-launch-20-000-ai-data-centers"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Palo Alto, Calif. — Cowboy Space, the California-based firm founded by Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt, has unveiled its ambitious plans to launch 20,000 AI data centers in low Earth orbit (LEO). The company showcased its vision during an event called \"Big Sky Rising\" on October 26.\n\nThe key to Cowboy Space's strategy is a novel rocket design called Big Iron. This two-stage rocket transforms its upper stage into a satellite after reaching orbit, serving as an AI data center. The rocket itself is 282 feet tall and 15.4 feet wide, powered by nine Clydesdale engines in the first stage and one in the upper stage. Like SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Starship, the Clydesdale engines burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane, a combination known as methalox.\n\nThe first stage of Big Iron is designed to be reusable, landing on a ship at sea after deployment. The larger, 33,000-pound upper stage, carrying five GPU racks (providing about 1 megawatt of compute power) and solar panels, will remain in orbit as a data center satellite.\n\nCowboy Space plans to construct a constellation of 20,000 of these Big Iron satellites in LEO, known as Stampede. It will require a staggering 20,000 launches to build the entire constellation. Each \"launch complex,\" or Trailhead, will feature four active launch mounts and will likely launch multiple times daily. While the first flights of Big Iron are still a few years away, with Cowboy Space aiming for a December 2028 launch, the company has already successfully tested its Clydesdale engine on SpaceX's Transporter-18 mission.",
  "summary": "Cowboy Space just gave us our first look at its \"Big Iron\" rocket, which the company will use to build its AI data center constellation. Big Iron's debut is targeted for late 2028.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}