{"ID":2884716,"CreatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","UpdatedAt":"2026-06-01T04:54:23.091178241Z","DeletedAt":null,"paper_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.06250","arxiv_id":"2508.06250","title":"Dirty Bits in Low-Earth Orbit: The Carbon Footprint of Launching Computers","abstract":"Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are increasingly proposed for communication and in-orbit computing, achieving low-latency global services. However, their sustainability remains largely unexamined. This paper investigates the carbon footprint of computing in space, focusing on lifecycle emissions from launch over orbital operation to re-entry. We present ESpaS, a lightweight tool for estimating carbon intensities across CPU usage, memory, and networking in orbital vs. terrestrial settings. Three worked examples compare (i) launch technologies (state-of-the-art rocket vs. potential next generation), (ii) operational emissions of data center workloads in orbit and on the ground and, (iii) in-orbit aggregation with raw data transmission. Results show that, even under optimistic assumptions, in-orbit systems incur significantly higher carbon costs - primarily due to embodied emissions from launch and re-entry. Our findings advocate for carbon-aware design principles and regulatory oversight in developing sustainable digital infrastructure in orbit.","short_abstract":"Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are increasingly proposed for communication and in-orbit computing, achieving low-latency global services. However, their sustainability remains largely unexamined. This paper investigates the carbon footprint of computing in space, focusing on lifecycle emissions from launch over orbit...","url_abs":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.06250","url_pdf":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.06250v3","authors":"[\"Robin Ohs\",\"Gregory F. Stock\",\"Andreas Schmidt\",\"Juan A. Fraire\",\"Holger Hermanns\"]","published":"2025-08-08T12:14:20Z","proceeding":"cs.CY","tasks":"[\"cs.CY\"]","methods":"[]","has_code":false}