Has Elon Musk abandoned the "Master Plan" strategies of Tesla and the traditional solar energy we know? Recent IPO documents filed by SpaceX suggest a dramatic shift in the billionaire's vision. While the Tesla founder has spent years promoting the electrification of the economy and a transition from hydrocarbons to solar power, his new company xAI is currently using unregulated natural gas turbines to power its data centers. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .
Interestingly, the entrepreneur who built a clean energy empire is now relying on fossil fuels. Although xAI has spent $697 million on Tesla Megapack battery systems over the last two years, it has not purchased significant amounts of Tesla solar panels. SpaceX documents mention solar energy, but it is primarily space-oriented. The company views space-based solar arrays as the future of data centers.
SpaceX notes that space-based solar arrays could generate five times more energy than those on Earth due to 24/7 illumination. As AI centers face various resistance on Earth, Musk is promoting the idea of placing servers in space and powering them with constant sunlight. This is a product of Musk's "first principles" thinking style.
However, the economic and technical aspects of this plan are highly complex. The energy cost for Starlink satellites is significantly higher than for terrestrial centers, and protecting chips from the harsh radiation of space is expensive. Nevertheless, Musk is concerned that the demand for AI computing power will soon exceed Earth's capacity. SpaceX forecasts that the world will need additional terawatt-scale computing power annually.
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