Feasibility study on space-based data centres shows ‘promising results’

Launched in 2023 and funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe program, the initiative studied the feasibility of space-based data centres to work toward the EU Green Deal’s objective of net-zero carbon by 2050 and transform the European space and digital ecosystem.

For this study, Thales Alenia Space coordinated a European consortium of partners who covered environmental aspects (Carbone 4, VITO), cloud computing (Orange Business, CloudFerro, Hewlett Packard Enterprise), launchers (ArianeGroup), and orbital systems (German space agency DLR, Airbus Defence & Space, and Thales Alenia Space).

The purpose of the ASCEND study was to compare the environmental impacts of space-based and Earth-based data centres. It was also intended to validate the technological feasibility of developing, deploying and operating such centres in orbit.

To significantly reduce the CO₂ emissions generated by the processing and storage of digital, the results of the study estimate that such space infrastructures would require the development of a launcher ten times less emissive over its entire lifecycle. Moreover, space data centres would not require water to cool them.