Partnership Will Fly Edge Computing Payload on Upcoming Mission
Momentus and DPhi Space Agree to Future Revenue Sharing
A partnership agreement between DPhi Space and Momentus will bring edge computing and AI to space, the companies say.
“By lowering the barrier to entry, we’re empowering organizations to validate their tech, gain flight heritage, and play an active role in shaping the space economy.”
John Rood, Momentus
Momentus plans to launch DPhi’s Clustergate-2 payload aboard its Vigoride 7 orbital service vehicle targeted for launch in early 2026, to deliver dynamic compute capabilities in orbit.
Clustergate is a self-contained payload bay designed to turn any host spacecraft into a shared, high-performance hub. The Clustergate-2 mission focuses on software payloads to enable the deployment and operation of software applications throughout the mission lifecycle, unlocking new opportunities for real-time and autonomous data processing from orbit.
This partnership between Momentus and DPhi embodies a shared mission to make space experimentation more accessible. Clustergate is designed to provide a flexible and programmable platform in orbit on which users can deploy, test, iterate, and gain flight heritage for their code, software applications, and AI algorithms in a true space environment. In addition, Clustergate is designed to allow additional code to be uploaded for customers from a cloud-like dashboard allowing ongoing testing of software and applications over the duration of a mission that might last months or years. This capability will allow customers to join the mission at the outset or as it progresses by having Momentus and DPhi Space upload and operate their code.
Clustergate is designed to enable participants to be granted access to processing nodes (A CPU, FPGA and Nvidia GPU) connected to spacecraft sensor and telemetry data, allowing rigorous validation of software capabilities and enhancing confidence in future deployments. By treating the satellite computer as an extension of the cloud, Clustergate is designed to allow users to develop applications in a preferred programming language and upload it to run on the satellite.
“(O)ur partnership with DPhi Space will provide a new capability to allow a broad range of companies and users to develop and test software and applications on-orbit,” said John Rood, CEO of Momentus. “By lowering the barrier to entry, we’re empowering organizations to validate their tech, gain flight heritage, and play an active role in shaping the space economy. We expect this to open up a new market segment and provide additional revenue from our future missions beginning with our next mission early next year.”
DPhi Space and Momentus invite companies, developers, and academic organizations to explore deploying AI agents and software payloads aboard Clustergate-2. The Vigoride 7 mission offers a powerful platform to pioneer the next generation of in-orbit computation. The Vigoride 7 launch is targeted for early 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.