Major tech companies are exploring the potential of building data centers in space. (Photo: Starcloud)
“From a proof concept, it's already there,” said Krishna Muralidharan, an engineering professor at the University of Arizona, who argues that the idea of deploying data centers in space is far from science fiction. He expects commercial operations to emerge within the next decade.
Muralidharan envisions a “space-based data center” composed of satellites and nanosatellites, equipped with computing technologies and optical systems to enable data storage, communication, and transmission. Power demand could be met through solar energy harvested along satellite orbits.
Tech companies race to build computing infrastructure in orbit
The concept has captured the attention not only of researchers but also major technology firms, which have begun revealing their own plans. On Nov. 4, Google announced “Project Suncatcher,” an initiative to deploy constellations of satellites equipped with high-performance processors that can work together to perform large-scale machine learning tasks in space.
