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Why Everyone Is Talking About Data Centers In Space

Questions to inspire discussion.

Launch Economics & Viability.

🚀 Q: What launch cost makes space data centers economically competitive? A: Space data centers become cost-competitive with ground systems when launch costs drop to approximately $200/kg, according to Google’s Suncatcher paper, making the economics viable for moving compute infrastructure off-Earth.

💰 Q: Why might SpaceX pursue a $1.5 trillion IPO valuation? A: The projected $1.5 trillion SpaceX IPO valuation is speculated to fund the capital-intensive race to establish space-based data centers and secure the best orbital positions before competitors.

🏱 Q: Which companies can realistically build space data centers first? A: Vertically integrated organizations like SpaceX, Relativity Space, and Blue Origin lead because they control launch infrastructure, can self-fund deployment, and serve as their own customers for space compute capacity.

đŸ›°ïž Q: How would space data centers physically connect GPUs across satellites? A: Multiple free-flying satellites in formation (like 20+ Starlink satellites) use inter-satellite optical connections to enable communication between GPUs, creating high-density computing clusters in orbit.

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Vapor-deposition method delivers unprecedented durability in perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells

NUS researchers have developed a vapor-deposition method that dramatically improves the long-term and high-temperature stability of perovskite-silicon (Si) tandem solar cells. The findings were published in Science.

This is the first time vapor deposition has been successfully applied to industrial micrometer-textured silicon wafers, the actual wafer structure used in commercial solar cell manufacturing, marking a major milestone for translating laboratory-scale tandem solar cells into real-world products.

The new method enables conformal, high-quality perovskite growth on industrial micrometer-scale textured silicon wafers, a critical requirement for mass production, and delivers more than 30% power-conversion efficiency with operational stability far exceeding 2,000 hours, including T₉₀ lifetimes —the time taken for performance to drop to 90% of initial output—of over 1,400 hours at 85°C under 1-sun illumination, a standard benchmark in solar energy representing a light intensity of 1,000 watts per square meter.

Hybrid excitons: Combining the best of both worlds

Faster, more efficient, and more versatile—these are the expectations for the technology that will produce our energy and handle information in the future. But how can these expectations be met? A major breakthrough in physics has now been made by an international team of researchers from the Universities of Göttingen, Marburg, the Berlin Humboldt in Germany, and Graz in Austria.

The scientists combined two highly promising types of material—organic semiconductors and two-dimensional semiconductors—and studied their combined response to light using photoelectron spectroscopy and many-body perturbation theory.

This enabled them to observe and describe fundamental microscopic processes, such as energy transfer, at the 2D-organic interface with ultrafast time resolution, meaning one quadrillionth of a second. The combination of these properties holds promise for developing new technology such as the next generation of solar cells. The results are published in Nature Physics.

Integrative quantum chemistry method unlocks secrets of advanced materials

A new computational approach developed at the University of Chicago promises to shed light on some of the world’s most puzzling materials—from high-temperature superconductors to solar cell semiconductors—by uniting two long-divided scientific perspectives.

“For decades, chemists and physicists have used very different lenses to look at materials. What we’ve done now is create a rigorous way to bring those perspectives together,” said senior author Laura Gagliardi, Richard and Kathy Leventhal Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. “This gives us a new toolkit to understand and eventually design materials with extraordinary properties.”

When it comes to solids, physicists usually think in terms of broad, repeating band structures, while chemists focus on the local behavior of electrons in specific molecules or fragments. But many important materials—such as organic semiconductors, metal–organic frameworks, and strongly correlated oxides—don’t fit neatly into either picture. In these materials, electrons are often thought of as hopping between repeating fragments rather than being distributed across the material.

‘Walking’ water discovery on 2D material could lead to better anti-icing coatings and energy materials

A surprising discovery about how water behaves on one of the world’s thinnest 2D materials could lead to major technological improvements, from better anti-icing coatings for aircraft and self-cleaning solar panels to next-generation lubricants and energy materials.

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Surrey and Graz University of Technology tested two ultra-thin sheet-like materials with a honeycomb structure— graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). While graphene is electrically conductive—making it a key contender for future electronics, sensors and batteries—h-BN, often called “white graphite,” is a high-performance ceramic material and electrical insulator.

Space debris poses growing threat, but new study suggests cleanup is feasible

High up in Earth’s orbit, millions of human-made objects large and small are flying at speeds of over 15,000 miles per hour. The objects, which range from inactive satellites to fragments of equipment resulting from explosions or collisions of previously launched rockets, are space debris, colloquially referred to as space junk. Sometimes the objects collide with each other, breaking into even smaller pieces.

No matter the size, all of this debris poses a problem. Flying at high speeds caused by prior launches or explosions, they create danger for operational satellites and spacecraft, which are vital for the efficacy of modern technologies like GPS, digital communication and weather forecasting. At orbital speeds, even tiny fragments can cause significant damage to operational equipment, endangering future space missions and the people who would participate in them.

“Even if a tiny, five-millimeter object hits a solar panel or a solar array of a satellite, it could break it,” says Assistant Professor Hao Chen, whose research involves space systems design. “And we have over 100 million objects smaller than one centimeter in orbit. So if you want to avoid a collision, you have to maneuver your spacecraft, which takes up fuel and is costly. Additionally, we have humans on the International Space Station who sometimes must go outside the spacecraft where the space debris can hit them too. It’s really dangerous.”

The world’s most efficient solar cell: Chinese researchers explain how they designed and built it

Earlier in 2025, Chinese solar manufacturer Longi announced it had built the world’s most efficient solar cell. The hybrid interdigitated back-contact (HIBC) cell achieved 27.81% efficiency, which was verified by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research Hamelin (ISFH).

Now, in a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers are sharing the technical details of their breakthrough.

For solar technology to deliver on its promise, solar cells and panels must convert as much sunlight as possible into energy. Typically, standard cells achieve up to 26% efficiency, that is, they convert 26% of the sunlight hitting them into electrical energy.

Perovskite photovoltaics prepare for their time in the sun

To capture more of the Sun’s spectrum, Steve Albrecht of the Technical University of Berlin and the Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy added a third layer of perovskite to make a so-called triple-junction cell, which could potentially offer even higher efficiencies. “It is truly a product of the future,” he says.

Other researchers are teaming perovskites with organic solar cells, forming flexible tandems suitable for indoor applications, or to cover vehicles. Yi Hou of the National University of Singapore points out that the perovskite layer filters ultraviolet light that would damage the organic cell. His team made a flexible perovskite–organic tandem5 with a record efficiency of 26.7%, and he is commercializing the technology through his company Singfilm Solar.

Despite the promising efficiency results, there was broad consensus at the conference that long-term stability is the field’s most pressing issue. Collaboration between researchers from academia, industry and national labs will be vital to fix that, says Marina Leite at the University of California, Davis: “We can work together to finally resolve the problem of stability in perovskites and truly enable this technology in the near future.”

New solar-powered Nissan EV can drive 3,000 km a year without ever plugging in

Nissan just announced a solar-powered EV based on the Nissan Sakura for this year’s Japan Mobility Show.

Built using the super popular kei car as a platform, the solar-powered Sakura promises ‘free’ motoring thanks to its solar panels.

In theory, you can drive it for a year without ever plugging it in.

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