An out-of-this-world idea: placing data centres in space could pave the way for sustainable computing with unlimited solar energy and free cooling, says scientists from NTU Singapore.
The researchers outline a practical path to building carbon-neutral data centres in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), a concept particularly relevant to land-scarce cities like Singapore, where limited land and high real estate costs make conventional data centres increasingly expensive.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Electronics, the study presents a framework for how satellites equipped with advanced processors could serve as orbital edge and cloud data centres.
Led by NTU Associate Provost (Graduate Education) Professor Wen Yonggang, who is the Alibaba-NTU President's Chair in Computer Science and Engineering, the new paper asserts that space offers two unparalleled environmental advantages, virtually unlimited solar energy and natural radiative cooling enabled by the extreme cold temperatures.
Together, these conditions could enable orbital data centres to operate with net-zero carbon emissions. The timing is crucial, as AI-driven computing demand is projected to rise by 165 per cent by 2030[1].
In Singapore, data centres already account for about seven per cent of national electricity use, a figure expected to reach 12 per cent by 2030[2].
[1] Goldman Sachs Research. (2025, February 4). AI to drive 165% increase in data centre power demand by 2030. Goldman Sachs Insights. https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/articles/ai-to-drive-165-increase-in-data-center-power-demand-by-2030.html
[2] Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). (2025, February). Turning the red dot, green: Helping data centres get better at staying cool. IMDA Blog. https://www.imda.gov.sg/resources/blog/blog-articles/2025/02/red-dot-analytics-help-data-centres-be-cool
