Voyager CEO Dylan Taylor Reveals Space Data Centers Still Grapple With Cooling Challenges

Forget the vacuum of space—the real void is in thermal management solutions.

The Heat Is On (Literally)

Dylan Taylor, the CEO of space infrastructure firm Voyager, just dropped a cold truth bomb: cooling remains the billion-dollar bottleneck for orbital data centers. While the vision of off-planet server farms promises limitless energy and latency-free global coverage, the physics of dissipating massive heat loads in microgravity hasn't caught up to the hype.

No Passive Cooling in a Vacuum

Earth-bound data centers rely on convection—air or liquid moving heat away. In space, there's no air. That leaves radiation as the primary, and notoriously slow, method to shed waste heat. Advanced concepts for liquid cooling loops face monumental hurdles: zero-gravity fluid behavior, single-point failure risks, and the sheer cost of launching heavy thermal hardware. It's an engineering puzzle that vaporizes more than just coolant—it burns through venture capital, too.

The Bottom Line

Until someone cracks the code on efficient, reliable space-based cooling, the constellation of orbiting cloud servers remains a pipe dream floating in a thermal nightmare. It's the ultimate reminder that in the final frontier, the most volatile commodity isn't data—it's common sense, before you launch another SPAC merger based on slides of a server rack floating prettily against the Earth's curvature.

Voyager tackles cooling challenges for space-based data centers

Taylor explained, “It’s counterintuitive, but it’s hard to actually cool things in space because there’s no medium to transmit heat to cold.” He further explained that all heat must be disposed of by radiation, which requires a radiator oriented away from the Sun.

Voyager went public in June of last year and is widely known for its Starlab project, which will replace the International Space Station upon its retirement in 2030.

Taylor stated that the company is on track to reach its 2029 launch objective by collaborating with Palantir, Airbus, and Mitsubishi on the project. He also revealed that the company already has cloud computing equipment on the International Space Station.

Taylor said that Voyager is well-positioned to spearhead the push for space-based data centers, leveraging its laser communication capabilities.

“We’re big believers in the technology maturing and our ability to generate data in space and process data in space,” he said.

Taylor’s arguments coincide with U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans to boost defense spending and overhaul the U.S. space program. TRUMP signed an executive order in December identifying space as a key national security and economic priority.

Those policy signals have increased investor interest in space technology companies, including firms developing orbital infrastructure such as data centers. 

According to investment firm Seraphim Space, government spending on defense-related satellite systems and private sector wagers on launch capacity will drive significant increases in global investment in space technology in 2026. 

Space infrastructure is increasingly seen as a strategic national priority as nations battle for investments to gain a geopolitical edge.

Seraphim Space stated that investors anticipate that spending on independent satellite and missile defense systems, the incorporation of AI into space hardware and analytics, and the possibility of a SpaceX IPO will propel the funding momentum.

“A potential SpaceX IPO could act as a powerful catalyst, further validating SpaceTech as a mainstream asset class and opening a clearer ⁠path to IPOs for a growing cohort of late-stage SpaceTech companies.”

-Lucas Bishop, investment analyst at Seraphim Space.

Seraphim Space revealed that private investment in global space technology reached new highs in 2025, rising 48% to $12.4 billion, including $3.8 billion in the last quarter. The SpaceTech investment firm also revealed that the funding surpassed the previous peak set in 2021 and marked a complete recovery from the sector’s 2022 collapse, outperforming the larger venture capital market. 

The U.S. dominated ​investment last year, accounting for $7.3 billion, or roughly 60% of global funding. This was primarily due to significant expenditures on launch services and on defense-related initiatives, such as the Pentagon’s Golden Dome project.

If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.