2024-07-11 06:00:15
Thales Alenia Space recently revealed the results of the ASCEND feasibility study, exploring the installation of data centres in orbit. This initiative, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europeaims to support the objectives of carbon neutrality of the European Green Deal and to strengthen sovereignty digital from Europe.
The ASCEND study was carried out by a European consortium including specialists in the environment (Carbone 4, VITO), cloud (Orange Business, CloudFerro, Hewlett Packard Enterprise), space launch (ArianeGroup) and orbital systems (DLR, Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space). Its main objective was to compare the environmental impacts of the centres of data space and land, All by validating the technological feasibility of their development, deployment and exploitation in orbit. The results show that to minimize CO2 emissions, a launcher ten times less emissive than current ones would be necessary. In addition, space data centers would not use water for cooling, which is an advantage in a context increasing drought. This would allow significant investments under the European Green Deal, justifying the development of an eco-designed and reusable launcher. The development of such a launcher has been validated, thanks to contributions from ArianeGroup and analyses from the ESA PROTEIN study.
Modular in-orbit infrastructures would be assembled using robotic technologies. The EROSS IOD demonstrator, led by Thales Alenia Space for the European Commission, plans a first demonstration by 2026. In terms of capacity, ASCEND aims to deploy 1 gigawatt before 2050, thus meeting the growing demand for data centers.
The project is considered economically viable, with a potential return on investment of several hundred billion euros by 2050. Christophe Valorge, Technical Director of Thales Alenia Space, underlines that this initiative might transform the European digital landscape by offering a greener and more sovereign solution for data storage and processing, thus contributing to the objectives of neutrality. carbone and technological sovereignty of Europe.
ASCEND © Thales Alenia Space/Master Image Programmes
Thales Alenia Space and its partners plan to continue work on the ASCEND study to consolidate and optimize its results. A paradigm shift is needed in the space sector to achieve the objectives of this project, based on technologies accessible to Europe.
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