Orbital data centers, part 1: There’s no way this is economically viable, right?

Here's something that might sound wild — orbital data centers in space. You know how ground-based data centers are these massive, climate-controlled warehouses run by giants like Google and Amazon? Well, SpaceX is now thinking about moving that whole setup into orbit. The idea? To bring the data closer to space-based assets and maybe improve latency or resilience. But here’s the thing — according to Eric Berger from Technology, the cost of building and maintaining these space stations would be astronomical. Just launching all that hardware into orbit isn’t cheap, and keeping it cool and powered up would require some seriously massive infrastructure. ((slower)) What Berger points out is that, right now, the economics just don’t add up. It’s a bold vision, but it’s hard to see how this could be practical anytime soon. So, while orbital data centers sound like sci-fi, the truth is — they might stay firmly on the ground — at least for now.