The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud services has led to an infinite need for computing power. The surge has put a strain on data infrastructure, which requires numerous power to operate. A single medium-sized data center here on Earth can use enough electricity to power about 16,500 homes, with even larger facilities available devour as much as a small town.
In recent years, technology leaders have increasingly embraced this space-based AI infrastructure as a option to meet the ability needs of information centers.
There is abundant and reliable sunshine in space, which solar panels can convert into electricity. On November 4, 2025, Google has introduced the Suncatcher projecta daring proposal to put an 81-satellite constellation into low Earth orbit. The plan is to make use of the constellation to reap sunlight to power the following generation of AI data centers in space. So as an alternative of radiating energy back to Earth, the constellation would send data back to Earth.
For example, should you asked a chatbot find out how to bake sourdough bread as an alternative of cheering one on Virginia data center To create a response, your request is routed to the constellation in space, processed by chips powered solely by solar energy, and the recipe is distributed back to your device. This would mean leaving that Considerable heat is generated back within the cold vacuum of space.
As a technology entrepreneur, I welcome Google's ambitious plan. But as an area scientistI expect the corporate will soon face a growing problem: space debris.
The mathematics of catastrophe
Space debris — the buildup of defunct, man-made objects in Earth's orbit — is already impacting space agencies, firms and astronauts. This debris includes large pieces equivalent to spent rocket stages and dead satellites, in addition to tiny specks of paint and other fragments from retired satellites.
Space debris moves at hypersonic speeds of roughly 17,500 miles per hour (28,000 km/h) in low Earth orbit. At that speed, colliding with a chunk of debris the scale of a blueberry would feel like being hit by a falling anvil.
Satellite failures and anti-satellite tests have created an alarming amount of debris, a crisis now exacerbated by the rapid spread of business constellations like SpaceX's Starlink. The Starlink network has greater than 7,500 satellitesthat provide high-speed web worldwide.
The US Space Force is actively tracking over 40,000 objects larger than a softball ground-based radar and optical telescopes. However, this number is accounts for lower than 1% of deadly objects in orbit. Most are too small for these telescopes to reliably discover and track.
In November 2025, three Chinese astronauts were aboard the Tiangong space station forced to postpone their return to Earth because their capsule had been hit by a chunk of space debris. In 2018 the same incident Events on the International Space Station called into query relations between the United States and Russia, as Russian media speculated that a NASA astronaut can have intentionally sabotaged the station.
NASA/EPA, via Shutterstock
Google's intended orbital envelope – a sun-synchronous orbit about 400 miles (650 kilometers) above Earth – is a first-rate location for uninterrupted solar energy. During this orbit, the spacecraft's solar arrays will at all times be exposed to direct sunlight, where they will generate electricity to power the onboard AI payload. But this can be why the sun-synchronous orbit is the essentially the most congested highway in low Earth orbitand objects on this orbit are almost certainly to collide with other satellites or debris.
As latest objects arrive and existing objects break apart, low Earth orbit may very well be approaching Kessler syndrome. In this theory, collisions between objects create a cascade of latest debris once the variety of objects in low Earth orbit exceeds a critical threshold. Ultimately, this cascade of collisions could render certain orbits completely unusable.
Impact on Project Suncatcher
Project Suncatcher suggests a group of satellites with large solar panels. They would fly at a radius of only one kilometer, with each node lower than 200 meters apart. To put that into perspective, imagine a racetrack concerning the size of Daytona International Speedway, with 81 cars racing at 17,500 miles per hour—separated by gaps which are concerning the distance you could safely brake on the highway.
European Space Agency
This ultra-dense formation is obligatory in order that the satellites can transmit data to one another. The constellation distributes complex AI workloads across all 81 units, allowing them to “think” and process data concurrently as a single, massive, distributed brain. Google works with an area company to launch two prototype satellites by early 2027 to validate the hardware.
But within the vacuum of space, formation flight is a continuing battle against physics. While the atmosphere in low Earth orbit is incredibly thin, it isn’t empty. Sparse air particles are created Orbital drag in satellites – This force pushes against the spacecraft, slowing it down and forcing it to lose altitude. Satellites with large surfaces have greater problems with air resistance because they will act like a sail catching the wind.
Adding to this complexity, particle flows and magnetic fields from the Sun – often called space weather – may cause the density of air particles in low Earth orbit to fluctuate in unpredictable ways. These fluctuations directly affect the orbital resistance.
If the satellites are lower than 200 meters apart, the error tolerance is reduced. A single impact couldn’t only destroy a satellite, but additionally hurl it into its neighbors, setting off a cascade that would wipe out all the cluster and disperse it randomly Millions of latest debris into an orbit that’s already a minefield.
The importance of lively avoidance
To prevent crashes and cascades, satellite firms could introduce one leave no trace Standard, which suggests developing satellites that is not going to fragment, release debris or endanger their neighbors and that will be safely faraway from orbit. With a constellation as dense and complicated as Suncatcher, meeting this standard can require the satellites to be equipped with ““Reflexes” that recognize autonomously and dance through a field of rubble. Suncatcher's current design doesn’t include these lively avoidance features.
In the primary six months of 2025 alone, SpaceX's Starlink constellation has performed breathtakingly 144,404 collision avoidance maneuvers to avoid debris and other spacecraft. Likewise, Suncatcher would likely encounter debris larger than a grain of sand every five seconds.
Today's object tracking infrastructure is usually limited to mess larger than a softball Millions of smaller pieces of debris practically invisible to satellite operators. Future constellations would require an onboard detection system that may actively do that Detect these smaller threats and maneuver the satellite autonomously in real time.
Equipping Suncatcher with functions for lively collision avoidance could be a technical masterpiece. Due to the close distances, the constellation would need to react as a unit. Satellites would need to be repositioned together, much like a synchronized flock of birds. Each satellite would need to react to the smallest displacement of its neighbor.
I pay rent for the orbit
However, technological solutions can only go thus far. In September 2022, the Federal Communications Commission issued a rule requiring satellite operators to remove their spacecraft from orbit inside five years of mission completion. This typically involves a controlled de-orbit maneuver. Operators must now reserve enough fuel to ignite the engines at the top of the mission, lowering the satellite's altitude until air resistance takes over and the spacecraft burns up within the atmosphere.
However, the rule doesn’t apply to mess already in space, nor to future debris created by accidents or mishaps. To address these issues, some policymakers have proposed a Use tax for the disposal of space debris.
A usage tax, or orbital usage fee, would impose a fee on satellite operators based on the orbital loading of their constellation, much like how larger or heavier vehicles pay higher fees to make use of public roads. These funds would finance Active debris clearance missionsthat collect and take away essentially the most dangerous pieces of waste.
Avoiding collisions is a short lived technical solution and never a long-term solution to the space debris problem. As some firms look to space as a brand new home for data centers and others proceed to send constellations of satellites into orbit, latest policies and lively debris cleanup programs may help Keep low Earth orbit open for business.
