Example Article for Tech Talk
AI: Low Earth Orbit Data Centers
 | Author:
Victor Sample, MT43 News
Vic Sample: MT43 News Treasurer |
AI: Low Earth Orbit Data Centers
Victor Sample
MT43 News
Every single day as I read through my news feed, I see 10-15 articles about AI. Many of those articles are about the need for massive AI Data Centers to hold the required servers.
Last week, we discussed that across the nation, there has been a massive pushback from communities where large data centers have been proposed.
From “The Hill”:
“AI data centers are essential to winning the global AI race — but most communities don’t want them in their backyards. It’s easy to see why. These facilities are enormous, resource-intensive and often difficult for communities to digest. Local ambivalence or opposition — tells us something important: Data centers may be necessary in the global AI race, but they are not popular.”
Large Data Centers have huge power requirements, consume tremendous amounts of water (for cooling) and produce a substantial amount of noise. A large data center can create as much noise as the traffic on a large, busy freeway. Not a desirable trait here in Montana!
However, there are a number of companies (SpaceX, Google, Microsoft, etc.) researching the possibility of putting large data centers in low-earth orbit satellites. These satellites would use solar energy to power the data center; would not require water for cooling and would produce no noise.
The ISS (International Space Station) solar panels generate enough power for a medium-sized data center. The technology exists to power a large data center in low earth orbit; it becomes an engineering and construction issue to build a large enough solar array to power a large data center.
As far as cooling, we have all seen space movies – it’s cold in space. Seems like you could just build an open-sided structure with just enough structure to hold everything together and the cooling problems is solved!
Space is cold – or space is hot, depending on the level of sunlight being received. In direct sunlight, surface temperatures can reach 250 degrees Fahrenheit; when fully shaded the surface temperature can drop to -250 degrees Fahrenheit.
The lack of any air in space would act like a thermos; a server producing heat would be in its own bubble of heat – there is no air to move the heat away. Even in the earth’s shadow, when the ambient temperature is -250 Fahrenheit, the server would be holding its own heat.
The lack of air, cooling liquids, and gravity to move things presents a major cooling challenge, but not an unsolvable one. Engineers and physicists have already developed several plans for solving a low earth orbit cooling issue for data centers. Again, it becomes an engineering and construction issue to build and deploy the cooling systems.
Noise is caused by vibrations. In space, there is nothing to vibrate; so, at least low-earth-orbit data centers wouldn’t have a noise problem.
The last issue to be resolved is communications. Space Link provides high-speed internet access from low-earth orbit satellites. The AI engineers say we already have the bandwidth to service AI requests. But the current bandwidth is not sufficient to train the AI servers. That is a problem. Without training or continued “learning,” AI servers are really not usable. Again, the best telecommunication engineers are working on a solution to the bandwidth issue – and I believe they can solve that issue.
Of course, our skies are being filled with satellites. I have seen estimates of over 33,000 objects in our Earth orbit – over 12,000 of them in low Earth orbit. In 2025, Starlink satellites performed around 300,000 collision avoidance maneuvers! As the number of satellites grows, collisions will become unavoidable. If a solar flare interrupted communications, there would be the possibility of many collisions. Collisions cause space debris, adding to the collision problem.
Low earth orbit data centers are being researched; they are not currently feasible. The problems are solvable and would eliminate the need for most, if not all, terrestrial-based data centers.
A lot of the research for this article was done with the help of Google Gemini – Google’s AI engine.
The Montana Free Press reporter Amanda Eggert has written a great article about data centers proposed in Montana. She highlights 3 of the data centers - two of which are in Southwest Montana. To read the Montana Free Press article, visit the MT43News website at https://mt43news.com
