SpaceX targets first orbital compute satellite launch in 2027

September 11, 2026 at 10:03 PM2 min

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SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said the company aims to fly its first orbital compute satellites next year. He also said a revenue-generating Starship flight carrying production V3 Starlink satellites will occur later this month.

Key Facts

SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen announced at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech conference that the company targets flying its first orbital compute satellites in 2027.
A Starship flight later in September 2026 will be revenue-generating and carry production V3 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX stock gained 0.5% in early trading on Friday after closing slightly higher on Thursday, and has rallied from an intraday low of $104.83 on Aug. 3 to nearly $150 this month.
SpaceX reported second-quarter capital expenditures of $18.4 billion, well above analyst estimates of around $6 billion.
About 80% of sell-side analysts rate SpaceX a Buy or Strong Buy, according to Yahoo Finance AlphaSpace data.

Orbital Compute Timeline

SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen told the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech conference on Thursday that the company is targeting its first orbital compute satellite flight in 2027. Johnsen said the company expects to put up huge amounts of compute into space going into 2028. Evercore ISI analyst Kutgun Maral wrote that the roadmap is getting more specific, but Starship cadence and reuse remain the common execution dependency across broadband, Mobile and orbital compute.

Starship Flight and Market Reaction

Johnsen said another Starship flight later this month will be revenue-generating and carry production V3 Starlink satellites. SpaceX stock finished Thursday's session up slightly and gained another 0.5% in early trading on Friday. The shares rallied from an intraday low of $104.83 on Aug. 3 to nearly $150 this month, though the record high remains $225.64 from shortly after the June IPO. Bank of America analyst Ronald Epstein wrote that the firm is more positive on SpaceX's positioning across its key markets following the second quarter.