{"id":581888,"date":"2026-03-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/?p=581888"},"modified":"2026-04-06T01:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:11:03","slug":"the-race-to-build-orbital-data-centers-is-missing-its-biggest-variable-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/the-race-to-build-orbital-data-centers-is-missing-its-biggest-variable-power\/","title":{"rendered":"The race to build orbital data centers is missing its biggest variable: power"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s the version of the\u00a0orbital\u00a0data\u00a0center 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\u00a0data\u00a0center. NVIDIA\u2019s Vera Rubin Space-1 makes headlines. These are real announcements, and they all have one thing in common. Nobody talks about the source of electricity.\u00a0While [&hellip;]<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s the version of the\u00a0orbital\u00a0data\u00a0center 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\u00a0data\u00a0center. NVIDIA\u2019s Vera Rubin Space-1 makes headlines. These are real announcements, and they all have one thing in common. Nobody talks about the source of electricity.\u00a0While [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11021,"featured_media":569745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"newspack_pugpig_automated_push":false,"_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"fullscreen","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4148,4163],"tags":[4684,13687,13415,14054],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[14055],"class_list":["post-581888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commercial-archive","category-opinion-archive","tag-opinion","tag-orbital-data-centers","tag-sn","tag-space-based-data-centers","membership-content","access-restricted","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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&quot;AI&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AI","link":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/section\/ai\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Starcloud-concept-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Starcloud-concept-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Starcloud-concept-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Starcloud-concept-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spacenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Starcloud-concept-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":579998,"url":"https:\/\/spacenews.com\/the-energy-imperative-orbital-data-centers-virtual-event\/","url_meta":{"origin":581888,"position":3},"title":"Watch: 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