Independent analytical center European Institute of Space Policy (ESPI) draws attention to the rapid growth of US and Chinese activity in the field of orbital computing, and the increasing interest of Elon Musk (SpaceX) and other technological giants, which see space as a way to meet the exponentially growing computational and energy needs of artificial intelligence (NE). Considering the above, ESPI believes, that Europe should develop a large-scale strategy for the creation of space data centers as soon as possible, otherwise, it risks handing over one of the key pillars of the future digital infrastructure to global competitors.
18 November 2025 the analytical center published a report, in which it is stated, that over the past five years, about $81 million of private capital. Among them are young American companies Lonestar (data storage on the moon) та Starcloud, which recently launched its first small satellite into orbit. The Starcloud-1 satellite weighs approx 60 kg has an Nvidia processor on board, designed to launch AI models directly into orbit, including the Google Gemini variants. But, to achieve a commercially significant capacity, Starcloud and many other orbital computing projects will require kilometer-long solar panels and giant radiators in orbit to dissipate gigawatts of heat. It is this scale that highlights one of the most difficult engineering challenges of full-scale orbital computing. Despite significant progress in recent years, the availability of startups remains key barriers, thermal management and on-orbit assembly.
Given the high demand of government customers for communications, launching space data centers in various forms is a natural step to ensure operational sovereignty, growing use of AI and strengthening data security. The European Institute of Space Policy warns, that without swift and coordinated action, Europe risks becoming dependent on foreign orbital computing power. Under these conditions, the institute offers: launch the European initiative "Space data centers" (European Space-Based Data Centre) within the Horizon Europe Moonshot projects on 2028-2034 years; use ESA GSTP programs (General Support Technology Programme) and ARTES as platforms for public-private partnerships to bring key technologies to readiness; develop a step-by-step road map, which will go beyond research and development and lead to the commercial deployment of orbital computing.
Source: https://spacenews.com