The most audacious claim supporting orbital datacenters is not about processing power, but about environmental impact. A startup in the same field, Starcloud, claims its space-based system will deliver “10 times carbon dioxide savings over the life of the datacentre” compared to a terrestrial one.
This “10x” figure is the core of the environmental argument for Google’s “Project Suncatcher.” It’s a calculation that weighs the one-time, high-carbon cost of the rocket launch against the long-term, zero-carbon operation powered by “unlimited, low-cost renewable” solar energy.
The “only cost on the environment,” according to Starcloud’s co-founder, “will be on the launch.” This statement frames the hundreds of tonnes of CO2 from a launch as a single, acceptable “purchase price” for decades of clean computing.
This calculation is critical for Google to justify its plan. The company is facing a $3 trillion terrestrial datacentre boom that is causing “rising concern about the impact on carbon emissions.” A 10x saving is a powerful counter-argument.
However, this figure is a projection from a startup, not a proven fact. Google’s own 2027 prototypes will be the first step in gathering the data needed to verify these bold claims. The world will be watching to see if the CO2 savings are as astronomical as the datacenters themselves.
