[Starlink] DataCenters in Space (was Re: fiber IXPs in space)

[Ulrich Speidel]

Where do I even start? The lack of substantial bandwidth between space and ground? The extra latency between ground and space compared to terrestrial cloud, especially as terrestrial cloud edge can move much closer to customers when space can't? The fact that every LEO satellite is both a few 100 km from every customer and out of the customer's range depending on when you look? That low temperatures in space don't mean superconductive chips that produce zero heat, and that that heat is difficult to get rid of in space? That generating power in space is orders of magnitude more expensive than on the ground?

Just because Starlink can provide a service somewhere between DSL and low to medium grade fibre to a few million around the globe it's not "done". Even with 10x the number of satellites and a couple of times the current capacity per satellite, Starlink isn't going to supply more than a couple of 100 million at best, and that's not even accounting for growth in demand from IOT...

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Dr. Ulrich Speidel

School of Computer Science

Room 303S.594 (City Campus)
Ph: (+64-9)-373-7599 ext. 85282

The University of Auckland
ulrich at cs.auckland.ac.nz<mailto:ulrich at cs.auckland.ac.nz>
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~ulrich/
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-------- Original message --------
From: Tom Evslin via Starlink <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net>
Date: 20/04/23 1:13 pm (GMT+12:00)
To: 'Michael Richardson' <mcr at sandelman.ca>, 'starlink' <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net>, e-impact at ietf.org
Subject: Re: [Starlink] DataCenters in Space (was Re: fiber IXPs in space)

I think space-based data centers will be the rule rather than the exception. Wrote about that a couple of years ago although, as usual, things have not happened as quickly as I predicted https://blog.tomevslin.com/2021/07/computing-clouds-in-orbit-a-possible-roadmap.html<https://blog.tomevslin.com/2021/07/computing-clouds-in-orbit-a-possible-roadmap.html>

-----Original Message-----
From: Starlink <starlink-bounces at lists.bufferbloat.net> On Behalf Of Michael Richardson via Starlink
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2023 7:35 PM
To: starlink <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net>; e-impact at ietf.org
Subject: [Starlink] DataCenters in Space (was Re: fiber IXPs in space)


I saw this reported in BIS-Spaceflight.
(I'm usually a few months behind in reading it) I like the "first objective"!

https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press-release/ascend-thales-alenia-space-lead-european-feasibility-study-data<https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press-release/ascend-thales-alenia-space-lead-european-feasibility-study-data>

Cannes, November 14, 2022 – Thales Alenia Space, the joint company between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has been chosen by the European Commission to lead the ASCEND (Advanced Space Cloud for European Net zero emission and Data sovereignty) feasibility study for data centers in orbit, as part of Europe’s vast Horizon Europe research program.

Digital technology’s expanding environmental footprint is becoming a major
challenge: the burgeoning need for digitalization means that data centers in Europe and around the world are growing at an exponential pace, which in turn has a critical energy and environmental impact.

The first objective of this study will be to assess if the carbon emissions from the production and launch of these space infrastructures will be significantly lower than the emissions generated by ground-based data centers, therefore contributing to the achievement of global carbon neutrality. The second objective will be to prove that it is possible to develop the required launch solution and to ensure the deployment and operability of these spaceborne data centers using robotic assistance technologies currently being developed in Europe, such as the EROSS IOD demonstrator.

This project is expected to demonstrate to which extent space-based data centers would limit the energy and environmental impact of their ground counterparts, thus allowing major investments within the scope of Europe’s Green Deal, possibly justifying the development of a more climate-friendly, reusable heavy launch vehicle. Europe could thus regain its leadership in space transport and space logistics, as well as the assembly and operations of large infrastructures in orbit.

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