If things weren’t already frothy enough around artificial-intelligence (AI), now the Excitement is headed toward the Moon. The World’s Richest Men are earnestly talking about Traveling to Outer Space to build Gigantic Data Centers to run AI Models among the Stars. They argue such Missions make the most sense for Powering Energy-Hungry Operations.
“The moon is a gift from the universe,” Jeff Bezos recently said when talking about the Benefits of Lunar Development, and using it as a Base for Launching Projects in Space. Such talk comes as his Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX Rocket Companies are working to make Space Travel Cheaper and Routine.
It isn’t clear what’s Closer to being Real: Moon Bases or Superintelligent AI? But the Two seem to be Converging in an era of Investor enthusiasm that has some Worried we are in an AI Bubble. The current Economics of Space-based Data Centers don’t make Sense. But they could in the Future, perhaps as soon as a Decade or so from now, according to an Analysis by Phil Metzger, a Research Professor at the University of Central Florida and formerly of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“Space enthusiasts have long sought a business case to enable human migration beyond our home world,” He posted on X amid the New Hype. “I think AI servers in space is the first real business case that will lead to many more.” Back on Earth, Trump (R) has already Declared an Energy Emergency and the U.S. Government says We need to add Massive amounts of Capacity to handle the expected Power Demands coming in the next few years.
Meanwhile, AI Companies are building out their own Energy-Generating Capabilities as they wait for the Power Grid to Catch-Up. Musk’s xAI, for example, has been using Gas Turbines as Temporary Power Sources. And OpenAI is Pushing for the Government to Partner with Companies to add 100 Gigawatts a year. Let’s put 100 gigawatts into Perspective. Forty years ago, when “Back to the Future” came out, a Key Plot point in the movie was the need to Generate such an Incredible amount of Energy that Time Travel seemed Plausible to an Audience.
The Story revolved around needing to find 1.21 gigawatts of Power, or the Equivalent of a Lighting Strike, to send Doc Brown’s famed DeLorean Time Machine back Home. Now, 1 gigawatt, which the Energy Department (DOE) once Noted was roughly Half the Power Generated by the Hoover Dam, seems Paltry. And Musk, Bezos, and even Alphabet Chief Executive Sundar Pichai, are saying Stuff that sounds like pure Science Fiction for a New Generation.
The Argument essentially boils down to the belief that AI’s needs are eventually going to Grow so Great that we need to move to Outer Space. There the Sun’s Power can be more efficiently Harvested. In space, the Sun’s rays can be Direct and Constant for Solar Panels to Collect, No Clouds, No Rainstorms, No Nighttime. Demands for Cooling could also be Cut because of the Vacuum of Space.
Plus, there aren’t those Pesky Regulations that Executives like to Complain about, Slowing Construction of New Power Plants to meet the Data-Center Needs. In Space, No one can hear the Nimbys Scream. “We will be able to beat the cost of terrestrial data centers in space in the next couple of decades,” Bezos said at a Tech Conference last month. “Space will end up being one of the places that keeps making Earth better.”
It’s still Early Days. At Alphabet, Google’s Plans sound almost Conservative. The Search-Engine Company in recent days announced Project Suncatcher, which it describes as a Moonshot Project to Scale Machine Learning in Space. It Plans to Launch Two Prototype Satellites by Early 2027 to Test its Hardware in Orbit.
“Like any moonshot, it’s going to require us to solve a lot of complex engineering challenges,” Pichai posted on Social Media. Nvidia, too, has Announced a Partnership with Startup Starcloud to work on Space-Based Data Centers. Not to be Outdone, Musk has been P;aning His own Updated Vision for the Heavens.
He has long reached for Mars, a Main driver of SpaceX. But in recent weeks He has been talking more about how He can use His Spaceships to Deploy New Versions of His Solar-Powered Starlink Satellites equipped with High-Speed Lasers to Build-Out In-Space Data Centers.
On Friday, Musk further Reiterated how those AI Satellites would be able to Generate 100 Gigawatts of Annual Solar Power, or what He said, would be Roughly a Quarter of what the U.S. Consumes on an Average in a year. “We have a plan mapped out to do it,” He told Investor Ron Baron during an Event. “It gets crazy.”
Previously, He has suggested He was Four to Five years away from that Ability. He’s also touted even Wilder Ideas, saying on X that 100 Terawatts a year “is possible from a lunar base producing solar-powered AI satellites locally and accelerating them to escape velocity with a mass driver.”
Simply put, He’s suggesting a Moon Base will Crank-Out Satellites and throw them into Orbit with a Catapult. And those Satellites’ Solar Panels would Generate 100,000 Gigawatts a year. “I think we’ll see intelligence continue to scale all the way up to where…most of the power of the sun is harnessed for compute,” Musk told a Tech Conference in September. It all Sounds Hard to Believe. Yet, a few years ago, Musk was Drawing Eye-Rolls as He Jawboned Energy Industry Officials to Boost their Capabilities, Warning We were headed to Shortages with the Rise of Demand for AI, Electric Cars and other Tech.
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