SpaceX has asked the U.S. government for permission to launch up to one million satellites intended to function as solar-powered data centers in orbit. The proposal reflects a broader push by technology companies seeking alternatives to energy-intensive terrestrial facilities used to power artificial intelligence. By placing computing infrastructure in space, companies hope to rely on abundant solar energy and avoid the massive water consumption required to cool conventional data centers, tells The New York Times.
SpaceX already dominates satellite launches through its Starlink internet constellation, having placed thousands of spacecraft into orbit. In total, roughly 15,000 satellites have been launched over the past half-century, with SpaceX responsible for about two-thirds of them. The company’s proposal would dramatically expand that number, introducing an unprecedented scale of orbital infrastructure.
The concept of space-based data centers is attracting interest from other technology leaders as well. Google is developing orbiting computing platforms through Project Suncatcher, while Jeff Bezos has expressed interest through his company Blue Origin. China has also begun launching artificial intelligence computing satellites, with plans for a network potentially numbering in the thousands.
Despite the excitement, critics question both the practicality and the consequences of these ambitions. Some experts argue that orbital data centers would be prohibitively expensive and technically difficult. Others warn that even if the technology becomes feasible, Earth orbit may not have the capacity to support such massive deployments.
Research published in Nature Sustainability indicates that climate change could significantly reduce the number of satellites that can safely occupy popular orbital zones. Greenhouse gases cool and contract the upper atmosphere, weakening the atmospheric drag that gradually pulls defunct satellites and debris back toward Earth. Without this natural clearing mechanism, space junk could accumulate for much longer periods.
The risk of collisions already looms large. Tens of thousands of debris fragments are tracked today, with millions more too small to detect. Scientists fear that increasing congestion could trigger the Kessler syndrome, a cascading chain reaction of collisions that would fill Earth’s orbit with dangerous fragments. If that scenario unfolds, the very infrastructure supporting global communications and future space development could become unusable.