文章以能量守恒与热传极限来说明太空资料中心的构想。文中以桌上型 PC 为例，使用 300-watt 电源供应器，并说明在稳态运作下，输入的 300 watts 必须以热的形式排出。在轨道上，冷却必须依赖辐射而非传导；文中估算一个 200 F (366 Kelvin)、表面积 1 square meter、放射率为 1 的立方体可辐射约 1,000 watts。当边长加倍时，体积增为 8x、输入变为 2,400 watts，而表面积增为 4x、辐射输出约为 4,000 watts。
在更大尺度下，文章称冷却难度会增加，因为体积成长快于表面积，因此若没有大型散热结构，非常大的轨道设施并不实际。文中给出 1 megawatt 的案例，至少需要 980 square meters 的辐射面积，同时指出地球上现有 AI 资料中心的规模为 100 到 1,000 megawatts。文章也表示，近地轨道已有 10,000 颗在役卫星与约 10,000 metric tons 太空垃圾，并报导 SpaceX 已向 FCC 申请许可发射一百万颗小型 AI 卫星，凸显碰撞与连锁风险的疑虑。
AI-driven data centers are being built at a frantic pace and consume large amounts of electricity and water. The article states that by 2028, AI servers alone may use as much energy as 22 percent of US households, and that liquid-evaporation cooling at large facilities can consume millions of gallons of water per day. It also says local pushback is increasing as communities face higher resource pressure.
The article frames the space-data-center idea through energy conservation and heat transfer limits. A desktop PC example uses a 300-watt power supply and describes that, at steady operation, the 300 watts in must be transferred out as heat. In orbit, cooling must rely on radiation rather than conduction, and an example cube at 200 F (366 Kelvin), with 1 square meter surface area and emissivity of 1, is estimated to radiate around 1,000 watts; when scaled to double edge length, volume rises 8x and input becomes 2,400 watts while surface area rises 4x and radiative output is about 4,000 watts.
At larger scales, the article says cooling difficulty increases because volume grows faster than surface area, so very large orbiting facilities are not practical without major radiator structures. It gives a 1 megawatt case requiring at least 980 square meters of radiating area, while noting existing AI data centers on Earth use 100 to 1,000 megawatts. It also states low Earth orbit already has 10,000 active satellites and about 10,000 metric tons of space junk, and reports that SpaceX has requested FCC permission to launch a million small AI satellites, highlighting collision and cascade risk concerns.