Space-Based Data Centers Are Suddenly Big Business

Google, SpaceX, and others are racing to put your data in space.

Good morning,

Five years after leaving Google and its parent company Alphabet, Eric Schmidt is apparently still influencing and setting their strategy. Reports surfaced this week that Google is planning to put solar-powered data centers in space. Earlier this year, Ars Technica reported that Schmidt had acquired Relativity Space for the same purpose. Of course, putting data centers in space does make sense, largely because of the thermal demands of the data centers. There are already plenty of data centers under the surface of the ocean, and so space seems a logical next heat-sink allowing continuous operations.

Trump has reversed course, again, and renominated Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. Apparently, Elon Musk almost cost Isaacman this renomination, after his temper tantrum over Acting NASA Administrator and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy’s decision to recompete parts of the Artemis-3 contract for lunar landers as Musk’s SpaceX Starship has fallen behind schedule.

Duffy’s d…