Orbital Data Centers: Content ($M/MW) Implications for Cooling Equipment Players

Research evidence excerpt

Orbital Data Centers: Content ($M/MW) Implications for Cooling Equipment Players

3 August 2026

U.S. Multi Industry & Electrical Equipment

Orbital Data Centers: Content ($M/MW) Implications for Cooling

Equipment Players

As AI infrastructure continues to scale, industry participants are increasingly evaluating Varun Govindaraj

+1 917 344 8543 alternative approaches to meeting the growing requirements for power, cooling and

varun.govindaraj@bernsteinsg.com physical infrastructure. Bernstein recently initiated coverage on SpaceX, highlighting the

company's position at the center of the rapidly evolving space economy and its role in

Chad Dillard enabling new classes of orbital data centers. Building on that work, we explore one of the

+1 917 344 8469

chad.dillard@bernsteinsg.com more technical themes emerging at this intersection of AI and space: how liquid cooling

systems would evolve in the context of data centers in space. Our hypothesis suggests

Alasdair Leslie that the underlying cooling architecture is largely an extension of technologies already

+44 20 7762 4952 used widely in traditional satellite and spacecraft designs. The key question is therefore

alasdair.leslie@bernsteinsg.com not whether an orbital data center can be cooled, but rather how the cooling system would

be designed, what components would be required, and which suppliers are potentially

Douglas S. Harned, Ph.D.

+1 917 344 8430 exposed to the opportunity.

douglas.harned@bernsteinsg.com

Similar to terrestrial (land-based) facilities, virtually all electrical power consumed by

Stacy A. Rasgon, Ph.D. compute hardware ultimately becomes heat. The difference is that, in orbit, heat cannot

+1 213 559 5917 be removed through convection because no atmosphere exists. Instead, thermal energy