As private companies race to deploy orbiting data centers in lower Earth orbit, astronomers warn that the massive constellations required for space-based artificial intelligence will create towering artificial rings of light across the night sky, fundamentally altering astronomical observation worldwide.
The push to move server infrastructure off the ground stems from surging demand for compute power alongside the heavy environmental toll of terrestrial facilities. Data centers require immense amounts of energy and water for cooling. Some municipalities have banned new construction because of these demands. For example, the City of Los Angeles temporarily banned new construction of data centers because of the energy requirements. Moving computing into space offers a way to utilize the sun’s energy directly while avoiding local resource strains on Earth.
Yet that environmental relief on the ground comes with a steep atmospheric cost. Companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and startups such as Starcloud and Cowboy Space are eyeing the orbital frontier. According to University of Regina astronomy professor Samantha Lawler, companies are envisioning sending up to over 1.2 million satellites into orbit for orbital data center plans when combined together. That massive count dwarfs the 16,000 active satellites already in orbit by over 75 times, sparking severe concerns about light pollution, orbital congestion, and potential collisions.
Simulating Rings in the Sky and Sun-Synchronous Orbits
Unlike standard communications constellations, orbiting data centers require a specific path to maintain continuous access to solar power. By following the day-night line, an entire constellation of orbiting data centers can continue facing the sun as the satellites circle the globe, crossing over pole to pole.
That path keeps the satellites riding along the polar terminator, or the moving line dividing daylight and darkness across the planet. Lawler, alongside University of British Columbia astronomy professor Aaron Boley and professor Hanno Rein, published a preprint research paper titled Rings in the Sky
to model the visual fallout. Their simulations indicate that these systems would produce large ring structures visible from the ground twice a day, with the largest impacts occurring during winter when the structures sweep through otherwise dark skies.
“These systems would produce large ring structures with each ring passing through the sky twice a day. The largest impacts are expected to occur during winter, where ring structures could be seen sweeping through otherwise dark skies.”
Rings in the Sky preprint paper, via au.pcmag.com
Virginia Tech aerospace professor Shane Ross simulated what SpaceX’s Starmind constellation would look like from Blacksburg, Virginia, as it follows its sun-synchronous orbit. He noted that as the sun sets in the west, the sky would become full of objects in the east during twilight, affecting observers everywhere.
Pasadena Startups and the Push for Space AI Infrastructure
While astronomers model the atmospheric disruptions, aerospace startups are pushing ahead with hardware design. Sophia Space, a Pasadena-based startup founded by Dr. Leon Alkalai, relies on technology developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Caltech. The company utilizes a passive cooling system and solar panels designed to handle the harsh environment of lower Earth orbit.
Dr. Alkalai also serves as chief technical officer of Sophia Space and is the founder and chief executive of Mandala Space Ventures, a Pasadena-based venture studio that launched the startup in 2023. The company hired battle-hardened space-flight engineers from JPL to build its Tile design. Sophia Space raised a pre-seed round of $3.5 million and hired four engineers before closing an $11.5-million seed round earlier this year led by Alpha Funds, KDDI Green Partners Fund, and Unlock Venture Partners. The startup now employs about 25 people in Pasadena and plans to expand its lab space.
“Data centers in space are foundational infrastructure for the emerging space economy, for future national defense, and for enabling responsive disaster management and saving lives on Earth.”
Dr. Leon Alkalai, Sophia Space, via latimes.com
The broader space economy is already seeing commercial validation in adjacent sectors. Varda Space Industries in El Segundo utilizes microgravity environments to manufacture pharmaceuticals, while Vast Aerospace in Long Beach develops commercial space stations for orbital manufacturing. Adding computing power directly in orbit aims to solve a fundamental transmission bottleneck. Satellites are currently limited by their capacity to beam massive amounts of raw data down to terrestrial data centers for processing.
Unresolved Brightness Questions and Legal Pushback
Despite the rapid commercial momentum, significant uncertainties remain regarding how visible these space-based server farms will actually be. Lawler and Boley noted in their paper that they used a simplified brightness model because the actual visual impact depends heavily on unconfirmed satellite designs, materials, and operational practices such as attitude control.
SpaceX has previously developed methods to darken its Starlink constellation to reduce sunlight reflection. However, University of Birmingham astronautics professor Hugh Lewis noted that it will prove exceptionally difficult to consistently orient each of the three main surfaces—the spacecraft bus, radiator, and solar arrays—to avoid reflections toward observers on Earth. Lewis previously described the potential impact on the night sky as catastrophic.
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