Starcloud prepares to launch AWS Outpost into space

"One executive skeptical of the idea of data centers in space is AWS's own CEO, Matt Garman. "There are not enough rockets to launch a million satellites yet, so we're, like, pretty far from that. If you think about the cost of getting a payload in space today, it's massive," Garman told attendees at the Cisco AI summit, according to a Reuters report."

"Garman is just one of many critics of the notion that data centers can be a viable alternative. Issues such as collisions with space debris, the difficulty of supplying water as a coolant, the impossibility of fixing hardware issues and latency have all been highlighted as potential problems."

There are not enough rockets to launch a million satellites yet, and the cost of sending payloads into space remains massive. Launch capacity and expense make large-scale orbital data centers impractical in the near term. Collisions with space debris create significant operational hazards. Supplying water for use as coolant in orbit presents substantial logistical difficulties. Hardware failures cannot be easily repaired once deployed, preventing routine maintenance. Latency remains a performance challenge for many applications. Together, limited launch infrastructure, high costs, debris risk, cooling and repair obstacles, and latency undermine the viability of space-based data centers for now.

Read at Computerworld