Taking data centers to space. Although Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, it seems that the idea does not convince him too muchsome of the largest companies in the world have embarked on the race to fill low orbit with satellites. AWS with Blue Origin is there, Google is thereElon Musk says that he already has them with a simple Starlink update and even Nvidia, Eric Schmidt and Sam Altman They have an interest in the matter.
The advantages of take these data centers to space They seem clear: without water consumption because they are cooled by the cold of space, without energy consumption because they are powered by inexhaustible solar energy and without taking up space. The astronomers They are not particularly enthusiasticbut it seems that the industry is moving in that direction and one of the most enthusiastic, Jeff Bezos, has left a curious message.
By taking data centers into space, “we can make parks like Paris everywhere on Earth.” Playing this card is a dangerous thing.
Improve the Earth by taking factories to space
We have already discussed the objective: to have space computing power to support terrestrial computing thanks to a power that can scale by carrying more and more satellites that do not require investing in dissipation and power systems. With energy being a problem in some countries due to what these data centers consume, makes sense in the roadmap of these large companies.
But Bezos, who has spoken at length about why they want to go to the Moon, why they want to turn the satellite into a gas station and how they plan to achieve the goal, has not been so specific when talking about constellations in low orbit or computing beyond the clouds. It has focused on two things: remembering why they are investing so much and launching a romantic message that clashes with what these data centers are causing on Earth.
“We have to build the infrastructure for a constantly changing scenario,” says Bezos. “The price of the space race is very high and if you look back, before the Internet, there were very few actors. Two boys in a workshop could make a huge company. “We’re at that point in the space economy.”
“We can make parks like Paris everywhere on Earth”
The objective is to collect resources and materials on the Moon because, as he has admitted, “The Moon is a gift”but he has also commented that “many of the resources we need are in space.” And it does not refer so much to the regolith as to the aforementioned dissipation and infinite solar energy. “We are focusing a lot on that to exploit the space economy. It is infinite and it will happen,” he says.
Now, he points out that they don’t know when it will happen because orbital computing will be a big step, but he did leave some… curious phrases. “Everything is better than 500 years ago, but we have more pollution on Earth than 500 years ago. If we send all that away, if we can send all the pollution from factories on Earth away from Earth, we can return to the state before the Industrial Revolution.”
At this point, someone would ask, precisely, who are the ones that are generating the most pollution with the energy needs of their data centers and the need to return to coal In order to satisfy the demand, the private jet travel, what rockets pollute space, one’s own low orbit pollution with as many satellites or actions as promoting a fast consumer society that wastes so many resources. But, beyond that, it is not easy to send “all the pollution from Earth’s factories to space.”
There are industries that are simply impossible to send to low orbit because, beyond the obvious logistical limitations, we are talking about a first-come, first-served space. And America is moving, but also ChinaIndia, Russia and Europe.
The message that there are parks like in Paris anywhere in the world is powerful, of course, but start watering those parks in some countries.
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