"The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud services has led to a massive demand for computing power. The surge has strained data infrastructure, which requires lots of electricity to operate. A single, medium-sized data center here on Earth can consume enough electricity to power about 16,500 homes, with even larger facilities using as much as a small city. Over the past few years, tech leaders have increasingly advocated for space-based AI infrastructure as a way to address the power requirements of data centers."
"So, instead of beaming power back to Earth, the constellation would beam data back to Earth. For example, if you asked a chatbot how to bake sourdough bread, instead of firing up a data center in Virginia to craft a response, your query would be beamed up to the constellation in space, processed by chips running purely on solar energy, and the recipe sent back down to your device."
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and cloud services has dramatically increased demand for computing power, straining data infrastructure and electricity supplies. A medium-sized data center can consume enough electricity to power about 16,500 homes, with larger facilities using as much as a small city. Space-based AI infrastructure proposes exploiting abundant sunlight in orbit to run processors and leave waste heat in the vacuum of space. Google’s Project Suncatcher proposes an 81-satellite low Earth orbit constellation to harvest sunlight and beam data back to Earth for AI processing. Space debris presents an escalating hazard because fragments travel at hypersonic speeds and already affect agencies, companies, and astronauts.
Read at Fortune
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