[Starlink] Re: Data centers are racing to space — and regulation can’t keep up

Nitinder Mohan
2026-02-26T23:16:44Z

>But when we're talking data centers, we're not talking downlinking to end users with Dishys. We're talking downlinking to other infrastructure.

I dont fully agree with this. Unlike terrestrial DCs, which cannot connect to end-users primarily because they are installed “off-shore”, space-based DCs are likely just sats with more compute capacity and they should behave, operate and (transitively) connect with ground terminals with comm links. I don’t see any reason why they cannot connect directly with end-users (provided they both use Ku/other relevant band).

Comments for other points coming later 😊

Thanks and Regards,

Nitinder Mohan
Assistant Professor
Head of SPEAR Lab, Networked Systems Group
TU Delft, Netherlands
Personal website: https://www.nitindermohan.com/
Lab website: https://spearlab.nl/
From: Brandon Butterworth via Starlink <starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net>
Date: Friday, 27 February 2026 at 00:02
To: starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net <starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net>
Subject: [Starlink] Re: Data centers are racing to space — and regulation can’t keep up

On 26/02/2026 21:36:51, "Ulrich Speidel via Starlink"
<starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
>But when we're talking data centers, we're not talking downlinking to end users with Dishys. We're talking downlinking to other infrastructure.

And likely the same DCs they are using for the existing downlinks,
loads of space, power and connectivity for a faster link. Lots of work
ongoing on making those links optical too.

Maybe even the same DCs that are the data source for the AI sats. An
opportunity to increase dishy downlink capacity while adding AI.

brandon

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