Bezos Proposes Orbital Data Centers as the Future of Sustainable Computing
At Italian Tech Week in Turin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos outlined his plans to build data centers in Earth’s orbit. According to Bezos, gigawatt-scale data centers could be constructed in space within the next 10 to 20 years. These facilities would potentially surpass Earth-based data centers, due to continuous solar energy availability.
The idea of orbital data centers has gained attention in the technology industry as generative AI models require increasing computational resources, including electricity and water for cooling servers. Currently, data centers contribute approximately 0.3% of global carbon emissions, increasing to 2% when network-connected devices are included. Electricity consumption by data centers is projected to double by 2026, driven by AI applications. Industry leaders like OpenAI, Meta, and xAI are planning extensive data center operations across the United States, necessitating significant energy investments and new power plant developments.
Space-based facilities offer an alternative to terrestrial data centers that are taking up increasing amounts of territory and electrical power. Proponents highlight that space-based data centers offer consistent access to solar energy, reduce cooling requirements, are not subject to weather interruptions, and might outcompete terrestrial data centers on cost over time. Space-based facilities could also potentially reduce data transmission times between continents, benefiting financial transactions, real-time communications, and remote sensing applications by decreasing latency. Studies have indicated that in the near term, processing data on satellites may be more realistic for specialized purposes, particularly where edge computing is beneficial, such as Earth observation and satellite imagery analysis.
Launching and maintaining such centers; however, presents significant challenges. Blue Origin is working toward developing reusable rockets for carrying large payloads, including data center modules, into orbit. However, the company’s heavy-lift launch vehicle, New Glenn, remains in the testing phase and has not yet completed a successful booster landing. High costs also present a substantial barrier. Transporting large quantities of equipment into orbit is expensive, even as launch prices decrease. Achieving commercial-scale orbital infrastructure would require numerous launches and significant coordination. Operational complexities include the need for maintenance in a harsh space environment, vulnerability to radiation and debris, and limitations in manufacturing and deployment capacity.
Significant engineering constraints also persist, notably regarding storage solutions for space data centers. Traditional hard drives are heavy and ill-suited to launch conditions and the space environment, while solid-state drives, though lighter, typically offer less capacity and are vulnerable to cosmic radiation. Radiation-hardened memory technologies increase cost and complexity, and current solutions do not match the capacity needed for large-scale data center functions. Some research explores alternative storage technologies, including magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) and hybrid architectures, but these approaches face challenges regarding scalability and integration.
The European Commission’s study to investigate the possibility of deploying data centers in space, the Advanced Space Cloud for European Net Zero Emission and Data Sovereignty (ASCEND) study, indicates that for space-based data centers to be environmentally sustainable, it would be necessary to develop a new type of launcher with substantially reduced emissions. Additionally, maintaining data centers in orbit would require the continued use of rocket fuel, which diminishes overall environmental sustainability.
Replacing terrestrial infrastructure entirely with orbital facilities is currently considered an aspirational goal rather than an imminent development. A hybrid model may be more plausible, in which high-value or specialized computing tasks transition to orbital platforms, while routine cloud operations remain on Earth. Advancements in multiple areas would be required to make commercial-scale orbital data centers viable within the foreseeable future.
Private-sector initiatives like those from Axiom Space are advancing plans for private space stations equipped with orbital data centers designed to operate with improved hardware resilience and reduced dependence on Earth-based infrastructure. These developments target both current and anticipated needs for data processing in human and robotic space exploration. Y Combinator graduate, Starcloud, (formerly Lumen Orbit), raised $11 million in February 2025, topping off a $21 million seed round, to build space-based data centers, citing the advantage of consistent solar power availability and superior cooling capabilities. Relativity Space has also thrown their hat into the ring.
Developments in artificial intelligence and data center infrastructure raise important questions about sustainability and resource management. Future advancements may involve a combination of space-based and terrestrial solutions, depending on technological progress in energy, storage, cooling, and communications. At present, space-based data centers represent a developing field with unresolved technical and economic challenges, situated at the intersection of emerging possibilities and established industry practices.