Philip Johnston

Well, number one, on the plus side, we don't need permitted land.

We don't need battery storage because we're 24-7 in the sun, and we need six times less solar cells since one square meter of solar panel in space produces six times the energy of one square meter of solar panel on Earth.

But there's a few additional costs in space.

So I mentioned we're gonna need six times less solar, but there's one big cost, which is we need the launch cost.

The launch is to get the chips, solar panels, and radiators to space.

There is clearly a break-even point where the launch cost is below the cost of permitted land, batteries, and six times the solar.

And we see that launch cost to be around $500 a kilo, as I mentioned, which is well within range of the Starship launch price.

I'll finish with this.

Earlier I mentioned the competition between nations for AI, and over the last few years we've seen rising tensions with the first hot war in Europe in generations.

At its root, the biggest driver of large-scale war is competition for resources, and over the coming century, the biggest competition between nations will be for energy and water for data centers.

Some of you might know that in 1945, the United Nations Charter was first signed in this very room, on this very stage where I'm standing right now.

We might take it for granted right now, but the United Nations has helped keep us safe since the Second World War until now.

And as the grandchild of two British World War II veterans, the words of the charter, the promise of their generation to ours still move me every time I think of them.

We, the people of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has wrought untold sorrow to mankind.

The most effective way that we can save our own children and grandchildren from the scourge of war will be to stop competing over the fundamentally finite resources of Earth and to start utilizing the near limitless energy of our solar system and eventually of our galaxy.

In a week's time, I'll be watching the first AI data center launch to space.

In 10 years time, most new data centers will be being built in space for the energy.

And who knows, maybe in 50 years time, if I keep wearing my lucky underpants, we may have started work on a Dyson sphere to help harness the full power of our sun.

Thank you.