Is the race to build data centres in space a planet- saver or pie in the sky?

CHRIS STOKEL-WALKER ASKS IF OFF-PLANET DATA CENTRES ARE A VIABLE WAY TO MEET AI'S INSATIABLE DEMAND FOR ENERGY

- CHRIS STOKEL-WALKER

It's been more than 50 years since humankind last stepped foot on the Moon, and the idea of ferrying humans to Mars still seems out of reach. Yet listen to Silicon Valley executives and they'll tell you they have aspirations to do more than just set foot on far-flung planets and celestial bodies. Their latest frontier? They want to build data centres there to power the Al revolution.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos has said that he believes “colossal data centres” will be built in space within the next decade or two — and he favours a space-based regime because it can take advantage of endless solar power, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “There are no clouds and no rain, no weather,” he said.

He's far from alone. Elon Musk plans to deploy data centres in space through his SpaceX company. He also said that space could supply 100TWh (terawatt-hours) of electricity a year, or around one-third of all the UK’s annual demand, through “a lunar base producing solar-powered AI satellites locally”. And it isn’t just the tech bros: the European Union advocated for data centres in space as early as 2022.

Right now, “data centre in space” is as much a branding exercise as an engineering plan. Most concepts imagine a cluster of satellites or a modular station in high orbit, packed with chips and solar panels, crunching numbers far from prying eyes. Others assume you would simply harvest power in space and beam it back to Earth, keeping the servers grounded. Each approach raises different headaches, from launch costs and orbital debris to who is legally responsible if something goes wrong above another country’s territory.