With a growing backlash against the proliferation of data centers to power artificial intelligence, there has been increasing interest in putting the energy-thirsty operations into orbit. Now, researchers may have figured out how to overcome a major obstacle to that goal: cooling the data centers in space.
The California Institute of Technology and Sophia Space, a start-up focused on orbital space computing, announced Thursday that they had received a patent for a cooling system that they say could help them launch data centers by the early 2030s, powered by 24-hour solar systems in space.
Sophia Space devised a computer and data storage unit with a cooling system that uses a combination of tiles and solar power, which ultimately sends waste heat into deep space. The company said its system was "cost competitive" with data centers on earth.
The announcement is the latest effort to develop the use of solar power in space. This year, Elon Musk proposed sending up a million or so satellites to function as data centers, reducing the electricity and water they consume on earth. Other big technology firms, such as Google and Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin, have been developing similar projects.
"It's just kind of exploding," said Sergio Pellegrino, co-director of the Space-Based Solar Power Project at Caltech, who is working with Sophia Space. "We need to become more comfortable with space doing things for us." A June report by the World Economic Forum noted that finding the technology to cool computer chips would be an appealing pursuit because 70 percent of Americans oppose the construction of data centers in their areas — and space lacks air and water, which are typically required to rapidly cool computer chips.
But critics argue that putting solar-powered data centers into orbit would add to the growing amount of trash in space while increasing consumer costs for power, and may make the electric grid less reliable. "The space-based mousetraps are just a distraction," said Bill Powers, an engineer in San Diego who testifies as an expert witness on behalf of consumers.
Caltech continues to work on development of space solar, and the Georgia Institute of Technology has teamed up with South Korean solar company Hanwha Qcells to advance the field. If the system proves effective, researchers, technology executives and energy companies hope that one day solar arrays in space could power your home or business.
