The race to build orbital data centers is missing its biggest variable: power

Here's the version of the orbital data center story you keep reading: Elon Musk says space will be the cheapest place to run AI within 36 months. LoneStar announces plans for a lunar data center. NVIDIA's Vera Rubin Space-1 makes headlines.

If we apply the same logic to the issue of orbit, then the assertion made by Musk begins to make a lot of engineering sense. A panel in space produces roughly five times the amount of electricity that the same panel would produce on Earth. There is no atmosphere, no weather and no day-night cycle for most orbits.

This is not a trivial matter. On Earth, it's already the biggest limiting factor in the build-out of AI. McKinsey estimates that $6.7 trillion in data center investments will be required by 2030 to support the buildout.