Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Which risks could stop an orbital datacenter programme, and how much capital does each put at stake?
Chapter summary
The February 2026 edition adds a full risk register: 30 risks across technical, financial, regulatory, market and operational categories, each scored on probability and impact (1–5), sized in euros and paired with a mitigation. The matrix below places every risk; select one to see its exposure and mitigation, or switch to the residual view for the five risks the study re-scores after mitigation.
Key takeaways
- 1
Two risks score critical before mitigation, both at 15: hyperscalers building their own orbital compute (M-01) and a funding gap between rounds (F-02).
- 2
The largest financial exposures are market-side: hyperscaler self-build at €100–300M, then the funding gap and a demand shortfall at €50–150M each.
- 3
After mitigation no risk remains critical and three stay high; hyperscaler self-build is still the highest, at 10.
Key figures in this chapter
- 2 → 0
- critical risks, before → after mitigation
- 5 → 3
- high risks (score 10–14)
- 5
- risks the study re-scores after mitigation
- €100–300M
- largest single exposure (hyperscaler self-build)
Source: Space-Based Datacenters Feasibility Study, February 2026 edition
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