That news came just days after tech billionaire Elon Musk claimed his SpaceX start-up should be capable of deploying data centres in orbit next year thanks to its Starlink satellite programme.<\/p>\n
Starcloud\u2019s satellite was taken into space by a SpaceX rocket on Monday NZT.<\/p>\n
Junk and radiation<\/p>\n
Current projects to put data centres into orbit envision relying on clusters of low Earth orbit satellites positioned close enough together to ensure reliable wireless connectivity.<\/p>\n
Lasers will connect space computers to terrestrial systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a proof concept, it\u2019s already there,\u201d University of Arizona engineering professor Krishna Muralidharan, who is involved with such work, said of the technology.<\/p>\n
Muralidharan believes space data centres could be commercially viable in about a decade.<\/p>\n
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the tech titan behind private space exploration company Blue Origin, has estimated it might take up to twice that long.<\/p>\n
Critical technical aspects of such operations need to be resolved, particularly harm done to GPUs by high levels of radiation and extreme temperatures as well as the danger of being hit by space junk.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngineering work will be necessary,\u201d said University of Michigan assistant professor of engineering Christopher Limbach, contending that it is a matter of cost rather than technical feasibility.<\/p>\n
Sun synched<\/p>\n
The big draw of space for data centres is power supply, with the option of synchronising satellites to the sun\u2019s orbit to ensure constant light on solar panels.<\/p>\n
Tech titans building AI data centres have an ever-growing need for electricity and have even taken to investing in nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n
Data centres in space also avoid the challenges of acquiring land and meeting local regulations or community resistance to projects.<\/p>\n
And advocates argue that data centres operating in space are less harmful overall to the environment, aside from the pollution generated by rocket launches.<\/p>\n
Water needed to cool a space data centre would be about the same amount used by a space station, relying on exhaust radiators and re-using a relatively small amount of liquid.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real question is whether the idea is economically viable,\u201d said Limbach.<\/p>\n
An obstacle to deploying servers in space has been the cost of getting them into orbit.<\/p>\n
But a reuseable SpaceX mega-rocket called Starship with massive payload potential promises to slash launch expenses by at least 30 times.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistorically, high launch costs have been a primary barrier to large-scale space-based systems,\u201d Suncatcher project head Travis Beals said in a post.<\/p>\n
But project launch pricing data suggests prices may fall by the mid-2030s to the point at which \u201coperating a space-based data centre could become comparable\u201d to having it on Earth, Beals added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there ever was a time to chart new economic paths in space – or re-invent old ones – it is now,\u201d Limbach said.<\/p>\n
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