For major tech companies and aerospace firms, space may be the next frontier for data centers. With public opinion of data centers declining amid rising concerns about power infrastructure, water scarcity and environmental degradation, deploying data centers in orbit is becoming closer to reality.
Peter Beling is the interim associate dean of research and a professor at the University of Virginia School of Data Science, where he leads generative AI research at the National Security Data and Policy Institute.
Below he discusses why major companies have set their sights on space, what it would entail to put data centers in orbit and what's at stake.
What are the advantages of data centers moving to space?
It's becoming clear that the demand for AI data centers is growing much faster than our capability to add capacity in terms of energy on the ground. That's what's motivating the idea of thinking about space. That, and other environmental factors associated with data centers.
