Space junk’s next frontier

The vast infinity of outer space invites a lot of out-there proposals. Many of them involve using it as a garbage can. Nuclear waste? Launch it into the sun. Rocket debris? Well, it's already up there, may as well leave it.

Why not take another thing no one seems to like and throw it into orbit?

As the commercial space race heats up, companies are looking at orbital data centers as a way around some of the problems they’re running into on Earth, like finding appropriate land, getting access to enough electricity and, increasingly, public opposition. 

Karen Howard has been watching this space for years as the director of science and technology assessment at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which has released several reports about space junk and, more recently, applied that knowledge to orbital data centers.

“[Space is not] just this big empty wasteland,” Howard said, “where people can launch up whatever they want and it won't have any effects.”

Part of the appeal of orbital data centers includes that the sun can provide a steady source of power, and moving some computing off Earth could reduce terrestrial strain.

If it happens, it’ll be for business, not altruism. The companies that want to launch these into space exist to make a profit. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — regions have garnered big economic wins from spaceport developments. But if data center development gets more difficult to build on the ground, space could be seen as the moneymaker. 

There are still some very literal problems to solve before we get there, though. 

Data centers generate a lot of heat, and cooling them in the near-empty vacuum of space is difficult. Radiation can damage equipment. Large clusters could also mean more collisions and debris in an already crowded orbit.

Add in the speed at which computing and semiconductor innovation advances, and it gets even trickier. New data processing methods could change what kind of infrastructure makes the most sense to build. And if your facility is in orbit, it’s no simple thing — at least, not yet — to send a technician out for an update, or to decommission a structure that’s become obsolete.

Much of the responsibility for regulating space falls on national governments and international agreements, Howard said. But spaceports, data centers and debris landing in your community are all things you’ll feel. 

Local say comes in by asking questions about the scale of debris and impacts on critical infrastructure like GPS, according to Howard.

“If we get rid of our orbital debris problem and pollute our atmosphere to the point where we have, like, the ozone hole you might remember from a few decades ago,” Howard said, “we're just trading one problem for another.”

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POLL: What’s most important to you when deciding where the next generation of data centers go? One-click vote, or see results.

Find last edition’s responses here.

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