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Artificial intelligence has taken the world by storm lately. It also requires loads of band-end computing capability to do the near-miraculous things that it does. So far, that \u201ccompute,\u201d as it\u2019s known in the tech industry, has been based entirely on the ground. But is there an economic reason to do it in space? Some people seem to think so, as there has been a growing interest in space-based data centers. Let\u2019s take a look at why.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Space-based data centers have several advantages over ground-based ones. The first and most obvious is the near-unlimited amount of space in space. Second, there are plenty of potential options for novel power and cooling technologies that can\u2019t exist back on Earth. Third, using a space-based data center as a relay point for information could cut down on lag in data transfer between continents. Let\u2019s look at each in turn.<\/p>\n One of the significant constraints for data centers is space \u2013 they require large amounts of it, and it is expensive in the areas where they are most needed (i.e., next to large population centers). The tech giants have massive budgets associated with real estate for data centers, and that amount will only continue to grow as their computational requirements increase. On the other hand, building a modular data center in space, with each launch adding additional computing power, is a reasonable way to infinitely expand a company\u2019s hardware resources without the constraint of a physical location.<\/p>\n \n