OrbitsEdge, a company that supports AI and blockchain applications, and Copernic Space, which offers digital marketplaces for space assets, are sending an AI-enabled computer into space on a solar- and battery-powered satellite to produce a shoe design for the Syntilay brand.
The mission is expected to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early 2026.
OrbitsEdge and Copernic Space aim to test whether crypto mining and AI model training, which stress power grids and natural resources, can be shifted off-planet.
“By moving some of the more carbon intensive industries and getting them off of the Earth, we can reduce those footprints here on the ground,” Rick Ward, chief executive officer of OrbitsEdge, told Bloomberg News.
The companies want to highlight the possibilities for using in-orbit computing at a time when businesses are exploring economic opportunities in space.
This “serves as a launch point for bigger, better infrastructure,” said Grant Blaisdell, co-founder and CEO of Copernic Space. “You can attract a broader class of the commercial market” outside of the space industry or government, “and launch more missions that are even bigger, even more scalable,” he added.
While there could be some benefits to the plan, there are costs to developing and deploying computing infrastructure in orbit, said Ben Hertz-Shargel, who leads research on grid digitization for research firm Wood Mackenzie.
“It would relieve energy burdens on Earth, including grid congestion,” said Hertz-Shargel. However, it could run into supply-chain issues similar to those for terrestrial power plants and data centers, he said, “because you still need to build it, assemble it here and then launch it.”
Boca Raton-based Syntilay will use AI agents on the satellite to produce the first image of a shoe design from space, said Ben Weiss, founder and CEO of the shoe company. Syntilay already uses 3D printing to sell custom-fit, AI-designed shoes on Earth.
The company, which launched its first shoe earlier this year, is backed by Joe Foster, 90, who co-founded Reebok in 1958 and retired from the company in 1989.
Syntilay’s plan is to use AI in space to generate a 3D model of the shoe along with patterns, textures and shading, Weiss said. If the computer on the satellite doesn’t have enough processing power, the company will produce a 2D image, he added.
The design will be sent back down to Earth and scans of customers’ feet will be used to manufacture the shoes using 3D printing. The shoes will cost roughly $200.
The company “can’t make a lot of shoes,” said Foster, who oversees Syntilay’s footwear development. But the unique product could spark consumer interest in the company and its new method.
“I don’t think we’re looking for a big market,” Foster said. “But we can make some things that people will say, ‘I got that first. I got that shoe that’s come out of a design from space.’”
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