House information facilities, which discuss with information facilities inbuilt outer area to maximise effectivity, have emerged as a brand new area of hegemonic competitors, with Korea launching full-scale countermeasures following the USA and China.
In line with the science and know-how sector on Nov. 6, the Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) plans to conduct analysis and improvement (R&D) mission planning analysis to safe core applied sciences for area information facilities within the first half of subsequent 12 months. Primarily based on a mission planning report that specifies improvement objectives and finances scale for core applied sciences together with AI chips, communications, and cooling, the administration plans to use for finances as an R&D mission for 2027. KASA included area information heart improvement in its mid-to-long-term plan “Republic of Korea Satellite tv for pc Growth Technique” in February this 12 months and has been conducting conceptual analysis internally reviewing main nations’ tendencies and mission necessity. The planning analysis goes past this as the primary analysis mission funded by authorities finances, formally formalizing R&D promotion.
Core applied sciences beneath evaluate reportedly embody radiation-resistant semiconductors that function with out malfunction regardless of publicity to area radiation, and inter-satellite hyperlinks (ISL) the place a number of satellites talk at excessive velocity by way of laser. Hyperlinks with reusable launch car improvement plans are additionally being reviewed to safe financial viability of knowledge facilities. KASA is thought to be planning small-scale pilot initiatives first to expedite R&D initiation as a lot as potential. A KASA official stated, “To maintain up with abroad technological improvement velocity, we have to start R&D in 2027 and launch demonstration satellites earlier than 2030.”
House information facilities are infrastructure that performs AI computations in outer area by mounting massive portions of AI chips resembling graphics processing models (GPUs) on satellites. In Earth orbit, solar energy technology effectivity might be as much as 8 occasions increased as a result of it isn’t affected by Earth’s ambiance, climate, or time zones that block daylight, and the extraordinarily low-temperature setting can also be advantageous for cooling. In contrast to on Earth, there are not any web site limitations. They will instantly meet computational calls for of satellites, spacecraft, and lunar bases which have issue speaking with Earth, making them thought-about core know-how for the area improvement period. In line with market analysis agency ResearchAndMarkets, the orbital information heart market measurement is projected to achieve $39 billion (roughly 56 trillion gained) by 2035.
Accordingly, the USA and China have already entered preemptive competitors. Google unveiled its “Suncatcher Undertaking” on Nov. 4 (native time), which builds area information facilities with satellite tv for pc constellations outfitted with the corporate’s AI chip Tensor Processing Items (TPUs). It plans to launch two take a look at satellites in early 2027 to confirm core applied sciences together with TPU radiation resistance and ISL. StarCloud, a U.S. startup supported by Google, additionally launched a small satellite tv for pc outfitted with NVIDIA GPU H100 on Nov. 2. The idea consists of constructing 5GW (gigawatt)-class information facilities and 4km-sized photo voltaic panels whereas working Google’s AI mannequin Gemini.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk of SpaceX stated final month relating to area information facilities, “It might additionally work by increasing ‘Starlink V3’ satellites that assist high-speed laser connections,” including “SpaceX will do that.” Moreover, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin urged future enterprise entry, saying “GW-class information facilities shall be inbuilt area inside 10-20 years.”
The Chinese language authorities additionally efficiently launched 12 satellites in Might this 12 months as the primary part of its “Three-body Computing Satellite tv for pc Constellation” plan. The idea includes launching 2,800 AI satellites to construct a 1,000FP (petaflops – 1,000 trillion calculations per second) supercomputer in outer area. This efficiency matches current top-tier supercomputers together with the US Lawrence Livermore Nationwide Laboratory’s “El Capitan (1740PF).”
