U.S. environmentalists have opposed the creation of data centers in their communities.
A number of environmental and scientific organizations operating in the United States have asked the Federal Communications Commission to temporarily halt consideration of applications for data processing centers in orbit. This was reported by Earth.uz.
As emphasized in an official appeal sent through the Earthjustice organization, before launching large satellite constellations into orbit, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth study of their impact on nature. According to experts, such large-scale projects could damage the Earth's atmosphere and its upper layers to an extent that cannot be corrected.
The coalition of environmentalists refers to the National Environmental Policy Act adopted in 1969. According to this legal document, before a final decision is made on any major project, its environmental impact must be fully assessed.
Currently, several projects are being developed that involve placing computing power in orbit. Their overall impact could negatively affect the state of the ozone layer, the clarity of the night sky, and the chemical composition of the stratosphere, which is causing serious concern among scientists.
Orbital data center projects in space assume the direct transfer of computing power to the open phase. According to the authors of this idea, such an approach would significantly reduce the burden on data centers on Earth resulting from the rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies.
It is known that ground-based centers consume large amounts of electricity and water and occupy significant areas. In orbit, it is claimed that these problems would resolve themselves due to the use of solar energy and natural cooling capabilities.
However, environmental organizations point out that the scale of these projects is several times greater than that of previous satellite systems. For example, SpaceX has presented plans to create up to a million orbital devices in the future.
Moreover, other major technology companies are also planning to launch tens of thousands of new satellites. The deployment of such a vast number of devices into orbit and their subsequent burnout in the atmosphere after the end of their service life could lead to air pollution.
According to information provided by Yan Hasselman, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, the Federal Communications Commission is required to respond to this appeal within the specified timeframe. If the government agency ignores environmental legislation requirements and continues to issue licenses, the matter will be considered in court.
So far, the responsible agency has not issued an official response to this appeal. At the same time, intensifying global competition in the space sector is prompting technology companies to demand accelerated processes.
This is putting regulatory bodies in a difficult position.
