As artificial intelligence drives the need for vastly more computing storage and processing power, interest in space-based data centers has spiked.<\/p>\n
Although several startup companies, such as Starcloud, have begun to address this problem, the idea has also attracted the interest of tech barons. In May, it emerged that former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt acquired Relativity Space due to his interest in space-based data centers. Then, earlier this month, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted that gigawatt-scale data centers will be built in space within the next 10 to 20 years.<\/p>\n
Now, Elon Musk, whose SpaceX owns and operates significantly more space-based infrastructure than any other company or country in the world, has also expressed interest in the technology.<\/p>\n
After Ars wrote a story on the potential of autonomous assembly to construct large data centers in space, Musk responded on X by saying that Starlink satellites could be used for this purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimply scaling up Starlink V3 satellites, which have high speed laser links would work,\u201d he said on the social media site X. \u201cSpaceX will be doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musk\u2019s interest in space-based data centers significantly raises the profile of the nascent industry. Proponents of the idea say the advantages are clear: free, limitless power from the Sun and none of the messy environmental costs of building these facilities on Earth (where opposition is starting to grow). Critics say it is economically impractical to build these facilities in space and that supporters underestimate the technology needed to make it work.<\/p>\n
SpaceX\u2019s Starlink constellation has already defied some of this conventional wisdom by delivering high-speed broadband to millions of customers around the world while making a profit. So if Musk believes the Starlink architecture can be applied to data centers, it will be difficult for the industry to ignore.<\/p>\n
,<\/p>\n
\u201cThe amount of momentum from heavyweights in the tech industry is very much worth paying attention to,\u201d said Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space, in an interview. \u201cIf they start putting money behind it, we could see another transformation of what\u2019s done in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
The essential function of a data center is to store, process, and transmit data. Historically, satellites have already done a lot of this, Henry said. Telecommunications satellites specialize in transmitting data. Imaging satellites store a lot of data and then dump it when they pass over ground stations. In recent years, onboard computers have gotten more sophisticated at processing data. Data centers in space could represent the next evolution of that.<\/p>\n
Critics rightly note that it would require very large satellites with extensive solar panels to power data centers that rival ground-based infrastructure. However, SpaceX\u2019s Starlink V3 satellites are unlike any previous space-based technology, Henry said.<\/p>\n
SpaceX\u2019s current Starlink V2 mini satellites have a maximum downlink capacity of approximately 100 Gbps. The V3 satellite is expected to increase this capacity by a factor of 10, to 1 Tbps. This is not unprecedented in satellite capacity, but it certainly is at scale.<\/p>\n
For example, Viasat contracted with Boeing for the better part of a decade, spending hundreds of millions of dollars, to build Viasat-3, a geostationary satellite with a capacity of 1 Tbps. This single satellite may launch next week on an Atlas V rocket.<\/p>\n
SpaceX plans to launch dozens of Starlink V3 satellites\u2014Henry estimates the number is about 60\u2014on each Starship rocket launch. Those launches could occur as soon as the first half of 2026, as SpaceX has already tested a satellite dispenser on its Starship vehicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing else in the rest of the satellite industry that comes close to that amount of capacity,\u201d Henry said.<\/p>\n
Exactly what \u201cscaling up\u201d Starlink V3 satellites might look like is not clear, but it doesn\u2019t seem silly to expect it could happen. The very first operational Starlink satellites launched a little more than half a decade ago with a mass of about 300 kg and a capacity of 15Gbps. Starlink V3 satellites will likely mass 1,500 kg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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