An ambitious satellite maker plans to launch one of the most powerful spacecraft ever built in the coming weeks to demonstrate the technology needed to build data centers in orbit.
K2 Space, founded in 2022 by brothers and former SpaceX engineers Karan Kunjur and Neil Kunjur, has packed the Gravitas satellite onto a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket scheduled to launch later this month. Gravitas has a mass of 2 tons and a wingspan of 40 meters when the solar panels are extended.
The key to large satellites is high power. Gravitas can generate 20 kW of power for use in payloads such as powerful sensors, transceivers and computers. For comparison, the larger and more expensive ViaSat-3 spacecraft can generate more than 25 kW of power, while Elon Musk has said the Starlink V3 satellite will generate 20 kW. However, most spacecraft generate only a few kilowatts of power.
“The future is high power,” explains CEO Karan Kunjul. K2 raised $450 million to make its vision a reality and was valued by investors at $3 billion in December 2025. The launch marks the company’s first step toward real space operations — and what Kunjar calls “the beginning of an iterative journey.”
The Gravitas mission will fly 12 undisclosed payload modules from multiple customers, including the Department of Defense, as well as a 20kW electric thruster that the company hopes will be the most powerful ever flown in space.
Kunjur said the demonstration would be evaluated across several success stages. First, can K2 deploy the spacecraft and generate power? Second, can it begin executing a payload and test its powerful thrusters? And if it does, can the thrusters be used to lift the spacecraft thousands of kilometers into a higher orbit?
Kunjur recognizes that launching a new spacecraft is not easy — 85 percent of the components are designed and manufactured in-house — and that the market is quick to judge anomalies. The most important thing, he says, is maximizing data collection to feed the satellite’s next design. K2 plans to launch 11 satellites over the next two years, using a combination of demonstration and commercial missions. By 2028, Kunjur expects to produce satellites for customers to build a commercial network of high-performance spacecraft.
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As satellites continue to play a large role in the economy, electricity can help make new business cases. Kunjur expects the first impact to be on communications networks. Increased power increases throughput and makes the signal less susceptible to interference. As in-orbit data processing becomes more important, high-power satellites are required to run sophisticated processors.
Still, the big challenge for data centers, and large satellites of all kinds, is the cost of launching them into space. The pitch for establishing K2 is to harness the power of Starship, a giant rocket currently under development by SpaceX that could significantly reduce the cost of reaching orbit. However, it is not yet clear when the vehicles will start operating or start providing low-cost services.
However, due to the increasing demand for more power in orbit, K2 employs a different frame configuration for its unique spacecraft. The Pentagon’s plans for large-scale communications networks like Starlink and Amazon LEO, hyperscalers exploring the potential of orbital computing, and an $185 billion missile defense system with thousands of new satellites are all aimed at satellites with more electrical impact.
K2 argues that it still makes sense in a world where it costs about $7.2 million (in Falcon 9 customer fees) to launch its spacecraft, rather than a world where it costs $600,000 to launch (a world in which Starship reduces launch costs for external customers). Kunjur argues that Gravitas’ $15 million price tag is still cheaper than high-power satellites built by traditional contractors, while also being more powerful than comparably priced small spacecraft.
And once the largest rockets start flying regularly, Kunjul says the team will have even bigger options ready to go.
“The idea is to build all the components needed to be ahead of the curve when Starship and New Glenn become available to others,” he told TechCrunch. At K2, the 100 kW satellite-ready design is all taped to the factory floor and spread throughout the building.
This article has been updated with more recent measurements of Starlink satellite power generation.
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