Is this the ‘second digital age’? A revolution that will take artificial intelligence (AI) to new heights?
In any case, a new space race has begun, with orbital data centres (ODCs) sent around the Earth.
To assess its implications, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, organised a discussion in late September on ‘Orbital data centres: transferring computing power into space’.
Are space-based data centres possible?
In fact, they already exist. “Millions of spacecraft and dozens of projects have emerged in just the past six months to augment the terrestrial high-speed computing networks with space-based data centers,” noted Patricia Cooper, an American space consultant and moderator of the discussion.
In May 2025, China began deploying an AI ‘supercomputer’ in orbit. The mega-project, dubbed the Three-Body Computing Constellation, will eventually comprise 2,800 satellites. In January, the authorities in Beijing launched a five-year plan for space computing.
In the United States, the private sector is also eager to operate from space. “Since January 2026, US-based operators have filed applications with the FCC for a massive number of satellites,” explained Julie Kearney, an American lawyer and former head of the Space Bureau at the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She added that SpaceX has applied for one million, StarCloud for 88,000, Blue Origin for 51,000 and Cowboy Space for over 20,000. “These are massive and unprecedented in scale,” she continued.
“These are not communication satellites in the traditional sense, (…) They are processing nodes, and their AI training platforms, and their cloud infrastructure relocated from the ground to the sky.”
Orbital data centres: a ‘revolution’
In space, there are no constraints on size or environmental impact, apart from the issue of orbital debris.
An orbital data centre could be housed on a very large platform, just as it could be distributed across several spacecraft, following the model of Starlink or SpaceX’s data centres, in the form of satellites, explained Jermaine F. Gutierrez, a researcher at the European Institute of Space Policy (IEPS).
ODCs are also free from the limitations of terrestrial electricity grids, which may struggle to keep pace with the rapid growth of AI. Terrestrial ‘data centres’ consumed nearly 1.5 per cent of the world’s electricity in 2024.
This consumption is expected to more than double by 2030, by which time it will be equivalent to that of Japan. ODCs are powered by solar panels. Once in space, they no longer need cooling. And therefore, no water.
For explained Ian Carnelli, project manager for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Hera planetary defence mission, processing data and taking decisions directly in space will be “a revolution for what we are doing, because then the applications are just infinite.”
A key priority for Europe’s defence and security
For Europe, issues of sovereignty, security and defence are the driving forces behind ODC projects.
The Future of Technology Institute (FOTI), a pan-European think tank, has revealed that 23 European countries rely on US cloud service providers as part of their defence or security architecture, noted Jermaine F. Gutierrez of the IEPS.
“This is very interesting, because nowadays modern defence increasingly relies on AI-enabled decision-making, space data processing, autonomous systems, battlefield networks and large-scale data fusion.
Satellites are becoming part of the same digital infrastructure stack and strategic autonomy increasingly depends not only on owning satellites, but also on controlling that digital infrastructure that processes the satellite generated data.”
For Europe, there remains a significant gap to overcome in terms of data centre development, with a view to ensuring sovereignty.
Deploying these capabilities in orbit could be a solution.
Regulatory challenges
“No jurisdiction on Earth has adopted a dedicated regulatory framework for ODCs”, noted Julie Kearney, an American expert in space law.
“Currently, the most advanced legislative proposal is the European Union’s Space Act, which introduces a harmonized framework for space activities in the EU. It does not specifically regulate ODCs but it addresses space activities, space services, and the first processing of space-based data. Some might say the language is broad enough to capture ODC operations.
(…) Commentators have described the EU’s Space Act — combined with the AI Act and the Cyber Resilience Act — as potentially creating the world’s first fighting horizontal regime for orbital safety, high-risk AI autonomy and life cycle cyber security of space systems.
And for operators trying to navigate multitude overlapping compliance obligations, they could see a lot of moving parts”.
The UN’s vital role
At international level, the ITU, a UN agency, plays a vital role in coordinating the ‘spectrum’ and orbital activities. The spectrum refers to the radio and electromagnetic frequencies used by satellites.
The ITU administers the Radio Regulations, an international treaty adopted in 1995 which allocates frequency bands and regulates satellite orbits to prevent interference between countries.
However, its mandate does not cover data governance, AI regulation or IT operations.
These issues – amongst others – are discussed annually by a large number of partners at the ITU’s AI for Good Summits, which aim to identify AI applications capable of solving global challenges.