A startup developing technologies for using solar energy in space throws its hat to substantial tech companies trying to build data centers in Earth orbit. US company Aetherflux announced on Tuesday that it plans to launch its first data center satellite in early 2027 – the first element of a larger constellation of satellites it calls the “Galactic Brain”.
Tech companies face physical limits to realizing their AI ambitions on Earth — namely, they need more space and electricity for data centers. One potential solution they are exploring is sending some of these data centers into orbit, where they could run on solar power 24/7.
“The elephant in the room is that our current energy plans simply won’t get us there fast enough.”
“The race for artificial general intelligence is fundamentally a race for computing power and, therefore, energy. The elephant in the room is that our current energy plans simply won’t get us there fast enough,” Baiju Bhatt, founder and CEO of Aetherflux, who also co-founded Robinhood, says in the article press release. “Galactic Brain puts sunlight next to silicon and bypasses the power grid entirely.”
Aetherflux faces competition from Google, Blue Origin and SpaceX, which are also exploring the feasibility of orbiting data center satellites. Equipped with photovoltaic panels, they will be able to operate on solar energy without having to deal with the setting sun. Aetherflux says its technology builds on existing efforts to deploy satellites that can beam solar energy to Earth using lasers.
There are other challenges that Aetherflux and its competitors will face before data centers begin orbiting the Earth. Although launch costs have come down over the years, it is still prohibitively exorbitant to launch and operate these objects in space. They will also need to make sure the AI chips can withstand higher radiation and avoid collisions with other satellites in orbit as space becomes more crowded.