The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving a surge in global demand for data centers. However, these massive facilities resembling warehouses not only occupy a large amount of land, but also consume astonishing amounts of energy and release huge amounts of carbon dioxide. According to a report released by the International Energy Agency in 2025, global data center electricity consumption has reached 415 terawatt hours by 2024, accounting for approximately 1.5% of the total global electricity consumption. It is expected that by 2030, this number will double to 945 terawatt hours, equivalent to Japan's total annual electricity consumption. At the same time, expanding data centers are also facing increasingly severe heat dissipation challenges. Faced with this dilemma, global technology companies are turning their attention to space. According to CNN, multiple companies are exploring deploying data centers in orbit to avoid land restrictions and make more efficient use of solar energy. However, this concept still faces practical challenges such as high launch costs and space radiation protection. The most prominent advantage of space data centers lies in energy supply. It will directly utilize solar energy outside the atmosphere to obtain a continuous and clean source of power. Last year, with funding from the European Commission, the "Advanced Space Cloud for Net Zero Emissions and Data Sovereignty in Europe" project led by French satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Aerospace completed a feasibility study on deploying data centers in space. The project aims to explore a sustainable development path for data storage and processing. The company expects that by 2050, this project may achieve investment returns of billions of euros. Research has confirmed that space data centers have the potential to reshape the digital landscape in Europe, providing more environmentally friendly and autonomous data solutions. Space data centers also have another key advantage: no need for water cooling. CNN's report points out that such facilities can avoid the difficulties often faced by ground data centers, such as land acquisition and regulatory restrictions. Abu Dhabi's Madari Space Company is one of the pioneers in this field, having sent small computing components into orbit for technical validation. The founder and CEO of the company, Sherif Al Roman Mandy, pointed out that space-based data centers can serve diverse customers, especially users of Earth observation satellites, by directly storing and processing raw observation data in space, which can significantly reduce transmission latency and help enterprises make decisions faster. While Silicon Valley engineers are still struggling with the huge electricity bills and heat dissipation problems of data centers, space data centers have attracted global technological forces to compete for layout. In March of this year, Lonestar Data Assets announced that it had completed testing of a small data center on the surface of the moon. At the beginning of this month, SpaceX's rocket launched a satellite carrying the Nvidia H100 graphics processing unit from the startup company Starcloud into orbit. Nvidia stated that this marks the official debut of its first space mini data center. In May of this year, 12 satellites of the "Space Computing Constellation 021 Mission" jointly launched by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and Zhijiang Laboratory entered orbit, becoming the world's first satellite constellation specifically designed for space computing. As the first mission of the "Star Computing Program" of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and the "Three Body Computing Constellation" of Zhijiang Laboratory, the program will deploy 2800 computing satellites in the future to build a global integrated computing network covering the sky and earth. At the end of October, Elon Musk responded to the media by proposing that a complete space data center system can be built by simply expanding the new generation Starlink V3 satellite. Google announced on November 4th that it is developing satellites equipped with self-developed chips and plans to build scalable computing networks in space to fully utilize space solar energy. The company expects to launch two prototype test satellites in early 2027. Although the prospect of sending data centers into space is promising, it still faces key challenges such as radiation, heat dissipation, and cost. Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston pointed out that the primary challenge is how to effectively dissipate a large amount of heat in vacuum and ensure the stable operation of chips in strong radiation environments in space. Although supporters believe that space can better defend against human attacks and natural disasters, Quentin Parker, director of the Space Research Laboratory at the University of Hong Kong, reminds us that the space environment itself is also full of uncertainty. Experts also continue to warn of the accumulation risk of space debris, believing that collisions may destroy the space-based facilities that sustain modern society. At present, the cost of sending servers into orbit remains a major obstacle. However, with the development of SpaceX's reusable "Starship" rockets, launch costs are expected to be significantly reduced to one thirtieth of the original. Travis Biles, the head of the Suncatcher project at Google, stated that by the mid-2030s, the operating costs of space-based data centers may be on par with those on the ground. (New Society)