Why not just build them in space? As data centers face rising costs, strained resources and growing political opposition, a number of entrepreneurs — Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Eric Schmidt — have raised the possibility of processing and storing data aboard satellites in low-Earth orbit, using large solar arrays for power. It’s a crazy idea, and well worth supporting. Data centers are an essential element of the digital economy, powering everything from cloud computing to artificial intelligence. Problem is, they also require a lot of land, energy and water. Building them often entails navigating a morass of permitting rules, litigation, and occasional protests, and may cost billions. Some politicians are calling for moratoriums or even an outright ban. Moving the process into space could (in theory) elide such problems. To an extent, it’s already happening. Last year, Starcloud Inc. sent an Nvidia Corp. processing unit into orbit. Axiom Space Inc. launched two datacenter nodes in January, which it says “will lay the foundation for space-based cloud computing.” Blue Origin LLC a