Jeff Bezos Unveils Bold Plan for Orbital Data Centers to Tackle Soaring Energy Demand
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, has a bold plan to address the soaring energy demand of data centers. He envisions gigawatt data centers in orbit, harnessing solar energy without interruption and potentially reducing costs over the next few decades.
By 2030, data centers' energy demand is projected to double to 945 terawatt-hours per year. Bezos believes that while some workloads might not suit orbital data centers due to high latencies - up to 40 milliseconds in low Earth orbit - others could benefit from lower costs.
Currently, about a third of data centers' electricity comes from coal, with tech giants also relying on nuclear power. Bezos aims to establish the first gigawatt orbital data centers within the next 10 to 20 years, using Blue Origin's heavy-lift rockets for transportation.
However, challenges remain. Orbital data centers must protect sensitive hardware from solar and space radiation, and require highly automated, robotic maintenance. Iceland, meanwhile, plans to operate the first orbital solar power plant by 2030, transmitting energy to Earth as microwaves.
Bezos' orbital data centers could significantly reduce the environmental impact of data centers, but technical hurdles must be overcome. With Iceland's orbital solar power plant on the horizon, the future of space-based energy generation is drawing closer.
