庞大的太空数据中心网络可能使人类几乎无法观星。
Sprawling networks of space data centers could make it nearly impossible for humans to stargaze.
- 一份新报告指出，这只是将数万台人工智能计算机送入轨道所带来的众多风险之一。
• That's just one of the many risks that come with placing tens of thousands of AI computers into orbit, according to a new report.
为什么重要：大多数美国人都不希望在自己附近修建数据中心，但将其置于太空中会带来一系列新的问题。
Why it matters: Most Americans don't want data centers built near them, but putting them in space brings a new set of problems.
威胁级别：顶级学术研究人员在为日本政府主办的年度活动“清凉地球创新论坛”撰写的一份报告中警告称：“公司和决策者应当极其谨慎地推进。”
Threat level: "Companies and policymakers should proceed with great caution," top academic researchers warn in a report for the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum, an annual event hosted by the Japanese government.
- 报告呼应了天文学家的担忧，称如果太空数据中心激增，“在世界大部分地区的大部分夜晚，天空中最显眼的亮点将是卫星，而不是星星”。
• If space data centers proliferate, the "most visible points of light in the sky during much of the night in much of the world could be satellites, not stars," the report said, mirroring astronomers' worries.
- 如果美国军方采用这项技术，数据中心可能会成为未来太空冲突中的潜在目标。
• If the U.S. military adopts the technology, the data centers could become potential targets during future space conflicts.
- 数千个以每小时1.7万英里速度绕地球高速运转的轨道数据中心意味着“相撞风险”和危险太空垃圾的增加。
• Thousands of orbital data centers whipping around the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour mean a growing "risk of collisions" and dangerous space debris.
- 太空数据中心依靠太阳能运行，但将其送入轨道所需的大量火箭发射会产生温室气体和黑碳排放。
• Space data centers are solar-powered, but the vast number of rocket launches needed to put them in orbit generate greenhouse gases and black carbon emissions.
各方说法：该报告的主主要作者、哥伦比亚大学的戴维·桑德洛向Axios表示，关于太空数据中心的影响，仍然存在“未知的未知”。
What they're saying: Columbia University's David Sandalow, the report's lead author, told Axios there are still "unknown unknowns" about space data center impacts.
- 桑德洛说：“如果这件事要发生，它应该缓慢而谨慎地进行。而不是大量发射这些东西，然后有点像看会发生什么……这里存在巨大风险。”
• "If this is going to happen, it should happen slowly and with care," Sandalow said. "Not just launching lots and lots of these things and, kind of, seeing what happens. ... There's big risks."
数据说明：尽管存在这些担忧，投资者和科技创新者仍全力押注太空数据中心。
By the numbers: Despite those concerns, investors and tech innovators are all in on space data centers.
- 根据市场研究公司奎尔蒂空间的数据，在2025年，大约有1.97亿美元的投资与轨道数据中心相关。这一数字今年迄今已激增至11.1亿美元。
• In 2025, around $197 million in investments were tied to orbital data centers, per market research firm Quilty Space. That figure has swelled to $1.11 billion so far this year.
- 据“安全世界基金会”称，SpaceX已经申请部署一个由100万颗数据中心卫星组成的星座。
• SpaceX has applied for a constellation of 1 million data center satellites, according to the Secure World Foundation.
- 星云公司和蓝色起源的日出计划分别有着拥有8.8万颗和5.16万颗卫星的雄心。
• Starcloud and Blue Origin's Project Sunrise have ambitions for 88,000 and 51,600 satellites, respectively.
然而：奎尔蒂空间研究总监卡勒布·亨利表示，公司申请的卫星数量可能会超过他们实际部署的数量。他在接受采访时说：“他们不希望以后还得把数量往上调。”
Yes, but: Caleb Henry, Quilty Space's director of research, said that companies may be filing for more satellites than they will likely field. "They don't want to have to bump the number higher up later on," he said in an interview.
- 亨利说：“我们现在处于这样一个阶段：人们把纸面申请统计得好像它们已经实质化且真实存在一样，而我们对此还并不确知。”
• "We're at a point where people are tallying paper filings as if they are substantive and real," Henry said, "and we just don't know that yet." The bottom line:
底线：研究人员警告称，在更好地理解并妥善管理太空数据中心的“风险和影响”之前，政府和公司需要等待，暂不将其送入轨道。
Researchers warned that governments and companies need to wait until space data center "risks and impacts are better understood and well managed" before putting them in orbit.