Voyager Technologies' chief executive, Dylan Taylor, urged caution about rapid deployment of data centers in orbit, saying the idea faces a notable technical obstacle: getting rid of heat in the vacuum of space.
Speaking to CNBC, Taylor acknowledged that while computing infrastructure deployed in orbit could eventually become viable, a two-year timetable for operational systems would be "aggressive." He emphasized that the mechanics of cooling in space are fundamentally different from terrestrial systems.
"It's counter intuitive, but it's hard to actually cool things in space because there's no medium to transmit hot to cold," Taylor explained. "All heat dissipation has to happen via radiation, which means you need to have a radiator pointing away from the Sun."
The comment underscores the challenge of thermal management where the absence of air or another conductive medium forces designers to rely on radiative cooling and careful orientation relative to the Sun. Taylor also noted that, while companies such as SpaceX have the heavy-lift launch capability needed to place hardware in orbit, transporting components is only one piece of the engineering puzzle.
Voyager went public in June and is advancing the Starlab program, conceived as a private-sector successor to the International Space Station. The Starlab effort is being pursued in collaboration with Palantir, Airbus, and Mitsubishi, and Voyager maintains its target to launch in 2029.
Taylor cited existing in-orbit assets as evidence of the company’s foothold in space computing. Voyager already operates a cloud-compute device on the ISS and possesses laser communications equipment that could underpin future orbital data handling and transfer capabilities. "We're big believers in the technology maturing and our ability to generate data in space and process data in space," he said.
External interest in space-based computing has risen recently. The idea received renewed attention after Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, pointed to space-based data centers as among the rationales for combining SpaceX with xAI in a transaction described earlier this week as valued at $1.25 trillion. At the same time, speculation about a possible SpaceX initial public offering this year and the U.S. administration's emphasis on defense spending have contributed to heightened attention in the sector.
Despite the growing interest and launch capability, Taylor’s remarks underline that solving thermal engineering and other technical constraints will be essential before orbital data centers can move from concept to routine operation. Until those issues are resolved, aggressive deployment timelines should be treated with caution.
Summary
Dylan Taylor warns that heat dissipation in space - which must occur by radiation and requires radiators oriented away from the Sun - is a major hurdle for space-based data centers, making short timelines unrealistic. Voyager is progressing with its Starlab project and holds in-orbit computing hardware and laser comms tools, while sector interest rises amid corporate mergers and government spending focus.