Orbital versus terrestrial data centres: will space-based computing become viable?

12 March 2026 | Research and Insights

The emerging orbital data centre market is attracting growing interest, driven by the expansion of space-based operations and the increasing challenges associated with terrestrial data centres. Rising demand for AI in both domains is further fuelling interest. The prominent entrepreneurs advocating orbital data centres, including Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, highlight the considerable activity and hype in this area.

In this podcast, three of Analysys Mason’s experts, Christopher Baugh, Claude Rousseau and Simon Sherrington, discuss the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of orbital data centres. They examine perspectives from the terrestrial data centre sector, the current challenges facing data centre growth, how these factors are linked to the emerging orbital market and what developments may lie ahead.

Learn more in our recently published report: Orbital data centres: trends and analysis.

Learn more about our Earth observation programme.

 

Hear from:

Christopher Baugh

Partner, expert in space and satellite telecoms

Claude Rousseau

Research Director, expert in space and satellite

Simon Sherrington

Research Director, expert in fibre infrastructure and sustainability