this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2026
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It still doesn't make sense because of the power density. The size of the solar array you would need is completely impractical. Even a "large foldable solar panel" isn't going to cut it. Most satellites are relatively low power and even then the size of the solar arrays they have relative to the volume of the satellite is massive. Something as energy hungry as a data center pretty much demands a "small" nuclear generator to power it and the practicality of getting that into orbit nevermind the issues when it eventually de-orbits makes that a nonstarter.
Starlink sats are of the order of 20-50kW, an AI focused rack in a data centre is on the order of 100kW, powering the things is definitely feasible.
Unlike:
All of which are somewhere between horrible and impossible for data centres in space.