Putting a Data Center in Orbit Might Actually Make Sense, Here’s Why

Putting a data center (or several) in low Earth orbit (LEO) might actually make sense because space offers near-constant access to solar power, especially in certain orbits, slashing energy costs and carbon footprints compared to terrestrial data centers that rely on fossil fuels or strained grids.

Space’s vacuum and chilly temperatures let things cool off naturally, so you don’t need the power-hungry cooling systems we use on Earth. Handling data up in orbit—right near the satellites collecting it—cuts down on transmission delays to ground stations, enabling faster insights. Plus, in-orbit data centers allow for theoretical unlimited expansion of server capacity without urban sprawl or environmental impact.

A Washington-based startup called Starcloud wants to send up a satellite-based data center in May, with commercial operation starting by mid-2026. This fits their plan to use cheaper rocket trips for space computing. Their test satellite will carry high-performance GPUs for tough AI workloads, checking if things like machine learning can work well in orbit. Their big plan relies a lot on reusable rockets, like SpaceX’s Starship, to make lots of launches affordable. If Starship works out, they might build huge, megawatt-sized data centers in space by the late 2020s.

As autonomous maintenance systems improve, these orbital data hubs have potential to become a cost-effective, carbon-neutral alternative to terrestrial data centers. By 2035, gigawatt-scale computing clusters in low Earth orbit (LEO) and cislunar space are expected to enable seamless, ultra-secure data processing, revolutionizing industries from telecommunications to deep-space exploration,” according to a paper by Research and Markets.