The contract of the European Commission related to the ASCEND project (Advanced Space Cloud for European Net zero Emission and Data sovereignty) framed within the Horizon Europe research program, and whose objective is the installation of data centers in orbit, already has a successful company: Thales Alenia Space.
It is an ambitious project that will install orbital stations with data centers powered by solar power plants, a milestone for aerospace technology. Which will be possible thanks to several hundred megawatts.
ASCEND will use the energy produced in space, outside the earth’s atmosphere and will establish only high-speed internet connections with the earth through optical communication technologies. A technology on which Europe has great experience.
In addition, this project could contribute to an old desire of the European Union: to achieve the objective of a Carbon free Europe in 2050as it was initialed in the European Green Pact.
To carry out this project, Thales Alenia Space will need help from other companies, such as those specializing in the environment such as Carbone 4 and VITO; companies that offer cloud services such as Orange, CloudFerro, Hewlett Packard Entreprise Belgium; launchers such as ArianeGroup and in orbital systems, with references such as the German aerospace research center DLR, Airbus Defense and Space and Thales Alenia Space).
The purpose of the feasibility of this project
The purpose of this feasibility study is to demonstrate whether the carbon emissions associated with the production and launch phases of this type of space infrastructure are less than the emissions data centers would produce if they were kept on the ground.
Also prove that it is possible to develop the required launch solution and deploy and operate data centers in space using robotic orbit assist technologies. A technology that Europe is currently developing and that will be the object of the EROSS IOD demonstrator.
To what extent do data centers in space limit the energy and environmental impact of centers on Earth? The conclusions reached will help plan consequential investments under the European Green Dealin addition to justifying the development of a reusable and more ecological heavy launcher.
Europe also intends to regain its leadership in space transport and logistics as well as in the assembly of large infrastructures directly in orbit.
Notably Thales Alenia Space in Spain has more than 33 years of experience in the design, manufacture and delivery of innovative solutions for the space market. In fact, it is the leader of the satellite segment in the country and has contributed to more than 600 satellites, probes and space vehicles in telecommunications, navigation, Earth observation and exploration of the solar system and universe missions, for space agencies and operators of satellite around the world.
