At the AI Infra Summit, leaders from both industry and government discussed the potential of establishing data centers in space, highlighting the promise and the obstacles that lie ahead.
Technical and Economic Challenges
Sumeet Singh, chief data and AI officer at Viasat, pointed out three critical challenges to deploying orbital data centers. The foremost issue is thermal management; in the vacuum of space, systems can only cool off via radiators that need to be sufficiently large to dissipate heat effectively. This presents a significant challenge since larger sizes increase weight, which is a crucial factor for any orbital mission.
Singh also highlighted the limitations of bandwidth capacity for uplink and downlink communications, along with the high costs of launching these centers into low Earth orbit (LEO). Current costs run between $2,500 to $3,000 per kilogram, but he noted that for orbital data centers to become feasible, this needs to drop to around $200 to $500 per kilogram.
Joe Yaffe, COO and chief legal officer of Cowboy Space Corp., echoed these concerns and pointed out that depending on a single dominant satellite launch provider creates a bottleneck. Cowboy Space is working on a solution by developing its own launch vehicle, which will use its second stage as a data center. For data transmission, they plan to utilize optical links to efficiently handle increasing data demands.
Camille Bergin, CMO of Star Catcher, a company focused on in-space energy management, discussed how they are exploring laser-based power beaming as a way to enhance energy supply for these systems.
Customer Readiness for Orbit Computing
Feedback from the US Air Force indicates that they are not yet ready to implement orbital computing on a large scale. CIO Deepak Sachdeva mentioned that their operational standards, which include real-time latency and security, have not yet been met by the current technology. While he believes the technology is advancing for consumer use, it requires more development before being suitable for substantial military applications.
Viasat’s Singh emphasized that proving the technology’s reliability both operationally and commercially is critical. He mentioned an upcoming launch, which will utilize an Nvidia H100 GPU in a satellite, as a step in the right direction. However, he indicated that this single demonstration falls short of the mega-scale solutions that must follow.
Bergin also reiterated that to progress in orbital compute technology, there should be incremental proofs of concept, moving from smaller systems up to larger, more powerful centers. She noted that the approach to orbital data centers must consider real community needs rather than simply technological ambitions.
Despite these hurdles, the potential benefits of deploying data centers in space include alleviating community opposition to terrestrial facilities, as these off-world centers could offer unique solutions to pressing issues. Singh remains optimistic about the future, stating it’s not a question of whether this will happen, but rather when the leap to space-based data centers will genuinely occur.
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