Data centres are controversial: will launching them into space help?

Companies have proposed launching fleets of satellites into orbit that would act similar to data centres on Earth. Credit: NicoElNino/Alamy As the huge data centres powering the artificial-intelligence boom grow ever more unpopular on Earth, companies are planning to launch them into space. Data centres will use twice as much energy by 2030 — driven by AI In the past few months, firms including SpaceX, Google and Blue Origin have all shared plans to launch large fleets, or constellations, of satellites into low Earth orbit. The networks would act in a similar way to the interconnected computers inside data centres on Earth, which process, store and transmit data on a massive scale. Putting these ‘orbital data centres’ into space could, in theory, address concerns about their energy and water consumption, and their occupation of wide swathes of land. The idea is that constellations would use sunlight for energy rather than driving up electricity costs on Earth, and they would be cooled by space’s naturally cold environment rather than by water sources on our planet. For some, such a solution can’t come soon enough. Data centres on Earth have become so environmentally taxing that communities and politicians are taking action against them. …