Google thinks SpaceX's Starship must fly about 1,800 orbital missions before space-based data centers could be commercially viable.

The article says earthbound data hubs are constrained by power availability, cooling, and the limits of existing grid capacity.

Moving server farms off Earth is described as a way to get around those grid bottlenecks, if launch capacity can keep up.

Google has deployed an experimental Project Suncatcher prototype satellite into low Earth orbit.

That orbital test is meant to check whether advanced AI workloads can actually run in space.

The article also says SpaceX missions have delivered advanced Google AI chips into orbit.

A commercial buildout would still need a much faster launch cadence and rockets able to carry large server hardware.

Launch cost, radiation hardening, and in-orbit maintenance are listed as ongoing economic and technical hurdles.

Read the full article on Google's Starship estimate for space-based data centers.