Cowboy Space Unveils Big Iron Rocket for 20,000 Data Center Satellites

On October 26, 2026, Cowboy Space, led by Robinhood co-founder Biju Bhatt, unveiled the Big Iron, a two-stage steel rocket designed to deploy 20,000 Stampede data center satellites into low Earth orbit. The rocket's second stage becomes an orbital data center with approximately 1 MW of computing power after separation.

Compiled by Sergey KostenchukPublished 2026-10-27Updated 2026-10-28

2026-10-27 Business

🚀 Cowboy Space Unveils Big Iron Rocket for 20,000 Data Center Satellites

On October 26, Cowboy Space, founded by Robinhood co-founder Biju Bhatt, presented an 86-meter-tall steel rocket featuring Clydesdale methane engines and a reusable first stage. The second stage becomes a Stampede data center satellite after reaching orbit: ~15 tons, ~1 MW across 5 GPU racks. The first launch is scheduled for December 2028.

🌍 The strategy focuses on orbital data centers to bypass energy and thermal constraints of ground-based AI infrastructure; a Big Iron Express service has been announced for third-party cargo.

👤 This is currently a concept: the first flight is planned for late 2028, and the Stampede constellation requires 20,000 launches. Progress will be tracked through Clydesdale engine tests and the Reason-1 satellite.

Source 1: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/cowboy-space-unveils-big-iron-rocket-to-launch-20-000-ai-data-centers Source 2: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50264210

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