Sophia Space and Caltech Win Patent for Modular Space-Based Data Centers

Sophia Space announced July 30 that it has been granted a patent, shared with the California Institute of Technology, covering large, modular space-based data centers. The patent, issued July 14, establishes an intellectual property claim at the center of the emerging orbital computing field.

The patent covers the architecture for a modular, scalable, passively cooled computing and data storage unit designed for assembly into large computing data centers powered by solar energy. Its roots lie in Caltech's Space-based Solar Power Project, an internal research and development campaign to collect solar energy in space and transmit it to Earth. Based on that work, Sophia founder Leon Alkalai and colleagues at Caltech and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory began exploring the idea of using similar large deployable structures to gather energy for computing in space, with only the data needing to be transmitted to Earth.

"It is one way of solving the problem of energy in space, meaning energy in and heat out," said Alkalai, a retired JPL technical fellow. "It's not the only way."

Seven inventors are named in the Space-Based Data Centers patent: Alkalai; JPL engineering fellow John R. Brophy; Caltech Professor Sergio Pellegrino; Jonathan Sauder, former JPL technology infusion group lead; JPL technology consultant Timothy P. McElrath; Douglas J. Sheldon, former JPL mission-assurance manager; and Don J. Hunter of JPL's advanced electronic packaging engineering section.

Alkalai founded Sophia Space in 2023 as a portfolio company of Pasadena-based Mandala Space Ventures to explore commercial applications for the technology. After raising $22 million, the company plans to launch its Thermal Integrated LEO Edge, or TILE, compute module in 2027 aboard an Apex Nova bus. Sophia Space is continuing work with Pellegrino on thermal and structural technologies for orbiting data center architecture, with Caltech researching lightweight, large-scale deployable structures and thermal management techniques for future systems.

The patent illustrates "how JPL, Caltech and private industry can work together to rapidly develop solutions to difficult technical problems for the benefit of the nation," Brophy said in a statement. Alkalai has said he believes the company's modular architecture for data-crunching satellites will become the industry standard.

Next for Sophia Space is demonstrating the TILE technology in orbit. "The next thing for us is to demonstrate this TILE technology in space," Alkalai said. "We're also raising capital for our next round of financing." The 2027 launch aboard the Apex Nova bus marks the primary near-term milestone, alongside the company's continued fundraising and its joint development work with Caltech.