{"id":42963,"date":"2026-05-13T14:54:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/?p=42963"},"modified":"2026-05-13T14:54:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:54:32","slug":"as-ai-energy-demand-soars-uf-scientist-seeks-solutions-in-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/ece\/as-ai-energy-demand-soars-uf-scientist-seeks-solutions-in-space\/","title":{"rendered":"As AI energy demand soars, UF scientist seeks solutions in space"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-light-gray-background-color has-background\">\n<li>UF engineers are sending photonic semiconductor chips to the International Space Station to test performance in harsh space conditions.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The experiments are part of research to ease AI\u2019s rapidly growing energy demands and find better places for data centers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With AI data centers consuming massive amounts of electricity, researchers believe space could offer an energy-efficient alternative.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can watch the launch of SpaceX CRS-34 Mission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spacex.com\/launches\/crs-34\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The breathless growth of artificial intelligence is straining energy grids. Some technology experts even forecast an \u201cAI Winter&#8221; if energy demands exceed supply.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As scientists and tech firms scramble to find ways to power the AI revolution, one engineering researcher from the University of Florida is among the those looking up for a viable solution.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Way up.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe sky is not the limit. Space is the limit,\u201d said Volker Sorger, UF\u2019s Walden and Paula Rhines Endowed Professor in Semiconductor Photonics in the <a href=\"https:\/\/ece.ufl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the deputy director for Strategic Initiatives of UF\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/fsi.institute.ufl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Florida Semiconductor Institute<\/a> (FSI) \u2014 as well as a 2009 European Space Agency astronaut finalist \u2014 Sorger contends the empty chill and ample real estate of space may make the best venue for energy-hungry, high-temperature data centers to power AI.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, in a partnership with NASA, he and his team sent a second batch of photonic semiconductor chips to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/international-space-station\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">International Space Station<\/a>, or ISS, for more tests on how they perform in space. As of this writing, the SpaceX launch is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13 at 6: 50 p.m. from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.ufl.edu\/2026\/05\/semiconductor-chips-to-space\/\">Read full story on news.ufl.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UF engineers are sending photonic semiconductor chips to the International Space Station to test performance in harsh space conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":42967,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-templates\/single-sidebar-none.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"featured_post":"off","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15,57,61],"tags":[521,519],"class_list":["post-42963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ece","category-stories","category-research-innovation","tag-nasa","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42963"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42969,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42963\/revisions\/42969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eng.ufl.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}