“Putting the servers into orbit is a stupid idea”: Could data centers in space help avoid an AI energy crisis? Experts are torn.

As artificial intelligence (AI) models are growing and getting better and better more power hungryResearchers no longer ask themselves whether they can be trained, but where. This is the context behind Google Research current proposal exploring space-based AI infrastructure, an idea that sits somewhere between serious science and orbital overreach.

The idea is called “Project Suncatcher” and is outlined in a study uploaded in the preprint on November 22nd arXiv The database examines whether future AI workloads could be run on constellations of satellites equipped with specialized accelerators and powered primarily by solar energy.

In certain low-Earth or sun-synchronous orbits, it is argued, solar panels can operate most of the time, avoiding many of the night-day cycles, atmospheric losses and grid constraints that limit terrestrial data centers. The heat, meanwhile, would be released into space through radiative cooling, rather than relying on water-intensive cooling systems on Earth.

The…