With IT infrastructure energy needs reaching their limits and cybersecurity requirements growing by the day, the question arises: What if we just put everything off the Earth? Companies investing in placing data processing centers (DPCs) in orbit and even on the moon claim that this is not science fiction but a logical step towards the future of the digital world.
Why Space?
With the growing volumes of data generated by artificial intelligence and cloud services, demand for data centers continues to grow at double-digit rates. According to McKinsey, annual growth through 2030 could be as high as 22%. Against this backdrop, each new data storage facility is becoming increasingly difficult to fit into the Earth’s landscape, and not just physically. Environmental constraints, power shortages, and local protests make data center construction a potential crisis.
In space, these problems disappear. Solar energy is virtually infinite. Cooling is possible due to low temperatures. And there are no protesting neighbors at all.
Who’s Already in the Game?
Companies like Lonestar Data Holdings and Starcloud are not only announcing ambitions but also taking the first steps. Lonestar has already tested a miniature data center aboard a lunar rover and plans to launch a full-fledged center orbiting the moon by 2027. Starcloud from Washington, D.C., is looking to launch commercial operations by 2026.
European initiatives are not lagging behind. The Thales Alenia Space consortium is developing the Ascend project, which involves launching a constellation of 13 satellite data centers with a total capacity of 10 megawatts. In the long term, it is a question of expansion to 200 satellites and commercial launch by 2037.
Space Data Centers: Pros and Cons
Proponents of orbital and lunar data centers emphasize that going beyond the Earth opens up unique opportunities that cannot be replicated on the planet. At the same time, space places severe demands on technology, logistics, and cost. Below are the key arguments for and against.
Potential advantages
Moving infrastructure beyond the atmosphere could be the answer to many of the limitations faced by terrestrial data centers:
- Environmental neutrality: Minimal impact on Earth’s ecosystems and resources.
- Unlimited energy: Direct access to solar power without the need for centralized power grids.
- Physical security: These centers are harder to physically attack or hack.
- Political jurisdiction: Data can be “bound” to the laws of the launch country, circumventing complex localization rules.
Together, these factors make space data centers attractive to states seeking technological sovereignty and corporations focused on ultra-reliable solutions.
Key Challenges
However, along with the advantages, space brings large-scale challenges that require significant investments and engineering breakthroughs:
- Cost: Getting equipment into space costs tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram.
- Technical risks: Cooling, radiation protection, and resistance to overheating all require non-standard solutions.
- Repairability: Repairing malfunctions in orbit is either impossible or requires expensive human missions.
- Space debris: The density of orbital space is increasing, and with it, the risk of collisions.
Thus, space data centers are a bet on the future: they promise new standards of reliability and environmental friendliness, but still require overcoming a number of technological and economic barriers. The only question is who will be the first to be ready to go all the way.
Jurisdiction and Digital Sovereignty
Interest in space-based data centers is not only supported by technological or environmental arguments. The issue of data sovereignty is coming to the fore: with more and more countries requiring personal data to be stored on their territory, space can offer legal flexibility. Under international space law, a vehicle is subject to the jurisdiction of the country that launched it. Thus, the satellite becomes a kind of digital “embassy” that can satisfy even the strictest regulatory requirements.
Customers of such systems can be:
- Government agencies seeking increased protection of strategic data
- Financial and legal organizations for which cybersecurity is critical
- Space agencies and satellite operators require space-to-space solutions
- Private companies requiring reliable long-term storage or backups
Perspective and Reality
Despite the idea’s futuristic nature, experts warn that the road to mass deployment of such solutions will be long and expensive. But if in the past the idea of the Internet seemed utopian and the smartphone was science fiction, why not assume that in the next decade, data centers will be operating in near-Earth space?
For an industry where every nanosecond counts, and every leak has a price tag measured in billions, space may become not just exotic, but the next logical step in the evolution of digital infrastructure.
