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Why Orbital Data Centers Face Steep Physics and Cost Hurdles
Key Takeaways
- Orbital data centers face severe heat dissipation challenges because space lacks atmosphere for conduction or convection; only radiation works.
- Solar energy collection requires complex attitude control and panels degrade from radiation, increasing cost and complexity.
- ABI Research found that running a GPU in space costs at least an order of magnitude more than on Earth due to launch, redundancy, and thermal management.
- Major players like SpaceX, Google, and Starcloud are pursuing orbital data centers despite these hurdles.
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DT Editorial Team··via spectrum.ieee.org