Cowboy Space is building a rocket because it couldn't find one — and its upper stage stays in orbit as a data center
From the Space digest for Oct 29, 2026
What happened: SatNews reports on startup Cowboy Space, which is developing its own launch vehicle, "Big Iron," because it says it could not find an existing rocket suited to its needs. The distinctive design choice: Big Iron's upper stage does not come back. Instead of being recovered or expended on return, it stays in orbit and becomes a megawatt-class power platform — described in the report as a megawatt-class data center.
What's genuinely new: First appearance of Cowboy Space and its Big Iron vehicle here, with an orbital-data-center payoff built into the launch architecture itself: the upper stage is designed never to deorbit, instead converting to an in-orbit power/data platform. The company frames the whole vehicle around that end state rather than treating the upper stage as throwaway mass. No launch date, funding figures, or technical specifications appear in the available report, and only one outlet has covered it so far.
Watch: Any funding announcement, technical detail on the megawatt-class power system, a payload or customer commitment, and whether independent outlets follow on.
Sources SatNews