Will We Really Put Data Centers in Space?
How soon could AI data centers move to orbit? Forethought analyzes launch costs, cooling physics, and other engineering and governance factors needed to make space compute viable.
Will We Really Put Data Centers in Space? Avi Parrack Fin Moorhouse Citations Cite Citations PDF Contact 22nd May 2026 Will We Really Put Data Centers in Space? Abstract Introduction & Takeaways The basic economic case for orbital data centers Launch lead times and scaling rates depend on Starship Is thermal management a dealbreaker? Open problems and disadvantages Chip Failure Bandwidth and ODC Architectures Radiation Congestion in Orbit Supply chain immaturity Non-cost factors Regulation and permitting Physical and cyber security Conclusions Appendix A: Radiation environment Appendix B: Degr
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