Will Clouds be High Above the Sky?
Orbital data centers may be a good idea after all.
· By François Buffenoir ·
At first glance, the idea sounds strange, almost science fiction. Why move data centers into orbit? They would indeed be autonomous for their energy and cooling, but they also require massive infrastructure. Wouldn’t launching them into space come at a huge environmental cost? How would public acceptance evolve if such a project required hundreds of rocket launches?
Despite the concerns, these questions are becoming increasingly relevant since capacity requirements for artificial intelligence (AI) are expanding at an unprecedented pace. Energy sobriety—using it less and more efficiently—should remain a primary goal, but AI is not just another technology. It is, as TIME described, the “most geopolitically precarious technology since the atomic bomb”. Governments and companies fear losing ground in the field, pushing them to accelerate development.
The urgency is already visible. In May, tech leaders warned the U.S. Congress that AI is about to overwhelm the American power grid. Data centers already account for about 4% of global electricity consumption and 1% of greenhouse gas emissions. And the International Energy Agency calculates that data center electricity demand is growing four times faster than overall electricity demand, mainly driven by AI workloads.
By 2030, the added load in the United States alone could equal powering a country the size of Sweden or even Germany. Some experts go further. During a congressional hearing on April 9, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warned that AI could eventually consume 99% of electricity if left unchecked. Exaggerated or not, the trajectory is alarming.
A Case for Looking Up
This growing demand forces a reconsideration of orbital data centers, even if they were once deemed unrealistic. More sustainable space technologies are emerging, and reusable launchers are reducing the need for raw materials. Heavy-lift rockets mean fewer launches for the same mass, and methane engines, if using bio-methane, lower carbon footprints, by generating no soot and offering cleaner fuel production. A near future in which this biogas, ultra-heavy lift and fully reusable launchers become available could favor putting data centers into orbit.
Studies such as Europe’s Advanced Space Cloud for European Net zero emission and Data sovereignty (ASCEND) suggest doing this could be feasible as soon as 2036. Meanwhile, Abu Dhabi-based Madari Space plans initial tests of a “small space computing satellite” (a small satellite equipped with advanced computing capabilities) under 50 kilograms in 2026 and is aiming for a full constellation by 2030.
Orbital data centers as part of the global digital infrastructure may not be far off.
Preparing a New Space Infrastructure
So, what should be done? Sustainable space technologies are already under development in United States and Europe, and should be supported to ensure that heavy-lift reusable launchers using cleaner propellant will be in service by the end of the decade.
Orbital data centers will also require an international legal, governance, and regulatory framework. They will add more orbital infrastructure and increase congestion. International agreements will be necessary to ensure proper space traffic management and guarantee the protection of data stored in space. In Europe, the newly proposed EU Space Act aims to harmonize space regulations across member states, covering orbit traffic management and cybersecurity. In the United States, several frameworks already address these challenges: Space Policy Directive-3 sets the basis for national coordination of space traffic management, and Space Policy Directive-5 establishes cybersecurity principles for space systems. Building on these regional frameworks, a coordinated global approach through the UN’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space could help establish common technical and legal standards, ensuring safe, sustainable, and secure operations of orbital data centers.
Finally, studies such as ASCEND must continue and must use proper metrics and complete life cycle assessments, from launch to deorbiting, to assess the total environmental impact of terrestrial versus space data centers. Decisions must rely on rigorous, transparent analysis, not just industry promises.
As an uncertain AI future approaches, orbital data centers might turn out to be technologically possible and strategically necessary. Industry and policymakers, therefore, must balance innovation, security and sustainability.
And maybe, in a few years, archived emails will not rest in concrete halls on Earth but in a space cloud, high above the sky.