It’s not just Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin looking to send data centers into orbit. Google is also looking to get in on the fun — and is now gearing up to launch a fridge-sized satellite with the equivalent computing power of a single server as soon as next week.
As the New York Times reports, the prototype satellite is part of the tech giant’s Project Suncatcher. As its name suggests, the goal is to take advantage of unfiltered sunlight around the clock to power AI data centers in our planet’s orbit — instead of crushing the electrical grid, spewing copious amounts of pollution, and draining fresh water supplies back on the ground.
Companies like Google still have a long way to go to find out whether it actually works, let alone whether it’s financially feasible. Obstacles include errant pieces of space junk that could turn enormous orbital data centers into Swiss cheese, copious amounts of space radiation wreaking havoc on the onboard electronics — which also have to be kept cool somehow — and providing a solid enough connection with the surface hundreds of miles below.
That’s not to mention the extremely complicated and likely costly process of maintaining these servers. Human technicians can wander into a data center facility to swap out parts, but servicing satellites would be infinitely more complex.
