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CLOUD & COLOCATION
Q. WHAT IS HOLDING THE STEP INTO SPACE BACK?
» Despite the theoretical advantages of orbital infrastructure, several material constraints continue to limit deployment at scale. The most immediate barrier is launch economics. Although launch costs have fallen significantly over the past decade – from approximately US $ 10,000 per kilogram in 2010 to around US $ 2,700 per kilogram today – they remain well above thresholds typically associated with economically viable large-scale infrastructure deployment. Industry reference points suggest that a viability threshold closer to US $ 200 per kilogram may be required, implying a further reduction of more than 90 % from current levels.
Cooling architecture presents a second major constraint. While space environments are extremely cold, they lack an atmosphere, meaning heat cannot be removed via convection as it is on Earth. Instead, thermal regulation must rely on radiative systems. These require significantly larger surface areas compared to terrestrial cooling systems, introducing additional structural complexity and engineering challenges in system design and deployment.
Operational risk in orbit is also a key consideration. There are an estimated 40,000 tracked objects larger than 1cm currently in orbit, all of which pose collision risks to active infrastructure. As orbital density increases, the probability of cascading collision events becomes more significant.
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