Space Data Centers: There's a Chance!
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Data centers are coming soon to a patch of open land near you feeding off of and fueling the boom in artificial intelligence. With the rapid onset of hundreds of data centers sprouting across the country and the world has come a bumper crop of opposition from local residents concerned about power and water consumption, noise and air pollution, and overall quality of life impacts.
To mitigate those impacts, a growing legion of low-earth orbit satellite leaders and startups are looking to the skies to deploy data centers in space. The value proposition looks like a perfect solution - shifting all the hardware and processing entirely off of the planet.
The attraction is also popular for suggesting a fourth massive value generating application after earth observation, Internet connectivity, and direct-2-device communications. Data centers in space has the potential to further stimulate an already burgeoning satellite sector inflated by advances at SpaceX and its competitors including Blue Origin, Amazon Leo, and others.
Northern Virginia, where I live, stands out as the largest data center market in the world with more than 600 operational facilities - 69 of which are located in and around Manassas, Virginia, home of two famous Civil War battlefields. Yet more data centers keep coming as the pace of development has not slackened.
When I first moved to northern Virginia 30 years ago I was attracted and charmed by what looked to me like a fully built and established community. It looked to my naive eyes as if no additional construction or development could be shoe-horned in. It was perfect. Someone even told me or I read somewhere that northern Virginia represented the largest stand of deciduous forest in the world.
Thirty years on, that "fully built" vision has been shattered by rampant development which has seen a massive amount of that once-prized forest eliminated in favor of detached houses, condos and townhouses, and corporate headquarters galore. For 60 years development has been feeding off the proximity of Dulles International Airport (completed and dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in 1962), the completion of the Dulles Toll Road (1985); and the extension of the Metro from D.C. to and beyond Dulles.
With that development has come data centers, which have been welcomed more or less with open arms, tax abatements, and widespread rezoning. The builders of the data centers argue for their positive impact on local economies, but the reality is decidedly more ambiguous. A recent Brookings Institute report - "New Evidence on Data Center Employment Effects" - suggests the impacts on local salaries, home prices, and employment can be positive but are nuanced and demand further analysis.
It's clear, though, that developers are throwing around offers ranging from $500,000 to $1M/acre in some suburban and rural neighborhoods launching huge community disruptions. Might these same local opponents embrace a space-based solution?
According to a recent Novaspace white paper, at least 13 players are developing or considering space data processing solutions. Two, SpaceX and Blue Origin, have Federal Communications Commission filings, says Novaspace, and seven have launched their first satellites. SpaceX envisions a network of 1M satellites, Blue Origin: 51,600, Starcloud: 88,000.
The technical challenges are significant. A Wall Street Journal report focuses on thermal requirements in particular suggesting a wide range of potential solutions including:
Multilayer insulation, sprayable thermal films and tapes
Thermal louvers
Thermal contact
Thermal straps
Phase-change materials
Deployable radiators
Launch costs are also a barrier. The Journal quotes a Google study suggesting that if launch costs, currently at $3,400/kilogram, were to fall to $200/kilogram the economics would be comparable to terrestrial data centers. There is also the question of terrestrial and inter-satellite communications using RF or laser technology. Power and bandwidth are issues here as well.
Skeptics abound, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's vow to launch a million data center satellites immediately transformed the conversation. Some contenders have already indicated their intention to pursue SpaceX-style vertical integration to drive down costs. Clearly no two players will follow identical paths.
Data center demand has not slackened. Estimates place the number of data centers worldwide at 12,000, and they keep coming with all of their related demands for power, water, and land. Data centers in space increasingly look like an inevitability rather than a novelty.
The Journal tells us that data center satellites will be "expected to fly in an orbit that roughly travels over Earth’s poles to maximize their exposure to sunlight." This suggests hundreds of thousands of satellites crowded into a single orbital zone.
The prospect challenges our understanding of what is unfolding in space, who is in charge, and what are the limitations. So far, space exploration remains the realm of the possible. In spite of warnings of potential catastrophe, Kessler syndrome, we plunge forward.
Servicing space-based data centers is yet another requirement and the rush to establish data centers in space may accelerate efforts to perfect in-orbit servicing. In-orbit servicing advances will also aid the development of satellite retrieval and controlled de-orbitting.
What is clear, by now, is if it can be done in space, it will be done. Where there's a will there a way to make a buck, or millions. Musk's million satellite boast, however, does put the prospect in sobering perspective. Successful space-based data center deployment will be a massive leap in the volume of orbiting hardware to a degree that may finally demand closer scrutiny, attention, and concern. Out of sight may no longer mean out of mind.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Roger Lanctot is president of the Mobile Satellite Users Association and CEO and Founder of StrategiaNow Consulting. Roger draws on 30+ years’ experience in the technology industry as an analyst, journalist and consultant. Roger is a graduate of Dartmouth College. His 190,000 followers on LinkedIn reflects the influence of his insights and perspectives on automotive and transportation technology, policy, and strategy.
Comments