Technology companies need a lot of computing power to meet the expected demand for artificial intelligence (AI). This massive demand for compute is running up against roadblocks on multiple fronts, including strained electricity supplies, expensive land prices, and increasing pushback from communities. Some think the answer is to abandon these earthly problems entirely, and instead put data centers in orbit around the planet.
The idea may sound like science fiction, but several companies and government agencies are already exploring its feasibility. The appeal is clear. In orbit, vast amounts of heat can dissipate naturally into the cold vacuum of space, dramatically reducing the need for energy-hungry cooling systems.
Energy requirements can be met by via the sun, which provides abundant and consistent solar power. And, as satellite-based communications grow more sophisticated, the latency gap between Earth and space may soon shrink to levels workable for many applications. If these advantages can be harnessed cost-effectively, the cloud could one day move above the clouds—literally.
On Earth, the environmental footprint of computing infrastructure has become a growing concern. The world’s data centers already consume roughly 2% of global electricity and account for an estimated 3% of total carbon emissions—numbers expected to rise sharply as artificial intelligence workloads explode. Traditional strategies for green data centers—using renewable power, submerging servers in liquid cooling systems, or building in cold climates—are running into diminishing returns.
The search for an alternative leads inevitably to space. A data center on the Moon or in orbit around Earth would operate in a perfect thermal vacuum, with temperatures varying from blistering heat to freezing cold, enabling efficient heat exchange. Without the constraints of gravity, engineers could design compact, highly modular systems that self-assemble or are repaired by robotic maintenance drones. And with access to 24-hour solar energy outside Earth’s atmosphere, power generation could become nearly perpetual.
Some companies already working on space-based data centers include:
Starcloud: This Nvidia-backed startup could be the leader in this new frontier. The company launched a satellite with an Nvidia H100 graphics processing unit in early November. The company then trained an AI model that is running and querying responses to Google’s large language model (LLM) “Gemma.” According to Starcloud, this is the first time in history that an LLM has been run on a high-powered Nvidia GPU in outer space. Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston told CNBC that the company’s orbital data centers will have 10 times lower energy costs than terrestrial data centers. In addition to Gemma, Starcloud was able to train NanoGPT, an LLM created by OpenAI founding member Andrej Karpathy. The company plans to build a 5-gigawatt orbital data center. Learn more at CNBC.
Alphabet’s Google: In partnership with Planet Labs, Google intends to deploy two test satellites in early 2027 carrying the tech giant’s specialized AI chips (tensor processing units or TPUs). This is part of a larger “Moonshot” project, known as “Project Suncatcher,” in which the satellites would act as orbital data centers. A major challenge right now, according to Google, is the sheer number of satellites they estimate will be needed to make it work. One executive told The Wall Street Journal that it would take 10,000 satellites to recreate the compute capacity of a gigawatt data center. You can learn more at Business Insider.
Thales Alenia Space: Another entrant in the off-world data center space is the French startup “Thales Alenia Space,” which has partnered with data infrastructure firms to propose orbital data centers by the early 2030s. Their plan envisions modular satellites equipped with advanced processing hardware that can handle demanding workloads directly in orbit, potentially even performing real-time computation for Earth observation or space-based communication services. Thales Alenia is part of Thales S.A., a major European defense and aerospace firm.
Additionally, both Elon Musk’s “SpaceX” and the Jeff Bezos-backed “Blue Origins” are also working on how to put AI data centers into space. According to The Wall Street Journal, Blue Origin has been quietly working on the technology for more than a year. At SpaceX, the company is going to use a version of its “Starlink” satellites to host AI computing payloads. (Sources: The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Business Insider, Scientific American, S&P Global)
