Sophia Space and Caltech Awarded Patent for Space-Based Data Centers

PASADENA, CA – Mandala Space Ventures is proud to share that our incubated portfolio company, Sophia Space, has been awarded a patent with the California Institute of Technology, covering the architecture for large, modular space-based data centers. The patent, issued July 14, covers a modular, scalable, passively cooled computing and data storage unit designed for assembly into large computing data centers powered by solar energy.

The invention tackles one of the biggest hurdles that comes with putting data centers in orbit: keeping thousands of AI chips cool without the fans, heat pumps, and circulating fluids that traditional satellite radiator systems rely on. Sophia's design instead uses flat, modular tiles, each fitted with four processors. One side of each tile faces the sun and draws power from solar cells; the opposite side faces the cold vacuum of space and passively sheds heat.

As covered in the New York Times feature, the technology addresses one of the biggest technical hurdles standing between today's satellites and tomorrow's orbital compute infrastructure. "This patent reflects a different way of thinking about computer infrastructure in space," said Dr. Leon Alkalai, Founder and CTO of Sophia Space. "You can't simply take a terrestrial data center and move it into space. Building data centers in space requires a fresh look at the energy life-cycle problem."

Dr. Alkalai described the breakthrough as a "eureka moment," when he and his fellow researchers worked out how to balance the solar power absorbed by the front of a tile, the power draw of its processing chips, and the heat radiated out the back. "We did the basic math and said, 'Oh my God, this can work,'" he recalled.

The patent application was filed in October 2024, with the patent granted on July 14, 2026. In addition to Dr. Alkalai, six others are listed as inventors: John Brophy, Jonathan Sauder, Timothy McElrath, and Douglas Sheldon of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Sergio Pellegrino of Caltech; and Don Hunter, a JPL retiree.

The patent has its roots in Caltech's Space-Based Solar Power Project (SSPP), which set out to collect solar energy in space and transmit it to Earth. Building on that research, Dr. Alkalai and colleagues at Caltech and JPL began exploring whether the same large deployable structures used to gather solar energy could instead power computing in orbit — with only the resulting data, rather than energy, needing to be sent down to Earth.

"It is one way of solving the problem of energy in space, meaning energy in and heat out," Dr. Alkalai told SpaceNews. "It's not the only way."

The milestone lands amid a broader surge of interest in orbital data centers as a way to meet soaring AI-driven power demand without straining terrestrial land, electricity, and water resources. Sergio Pellegrino, co-director of Caltech's Space-Based Solar Power Project and a collaborator with Sophia Space, described the pace of activity in the sector: "It's just kind of exploding. We need to become more comfortable with space doing things for us."

Reflecting on the company's origins, Dr. Alkalai said: "Sophia was born out of that kind of vision and that goal to provide energy and solve an energy crisis for the earth."

Sophia Space was founded by Dr. Leon Alkalai in 2023 and incubated by Mandala Space Ventures with the vision of building scalable, space-based computing infrastructure for Low Earth Orbit. Securing this foundational patent with Caltech marks another important step in that journey, and we are proud to support the team as they continue this work.

To learn more about Sophia Space, visit sophia.space.