Data centers in space would be well protected from anyone but nation state level actors though. I always wonder if this is the real reason musk wants to do this. If AI will displace as many jobs as some people predict I'm sure many datacenters would be the target of angry pitchfork mobs.

A dedicated group of people with some engineering knowledge and an achievable amount of money could easily launch a missile into space. Getting to space is easy, staying in space is what's hard. You don't even need a warhead, as long as the missile intersects the data center's orbit, just hitting it at speed will have the same effect as a bomb.

The point is moot though, as data centers in space is a complete fantasy that will never happen.

Staying in space is much easier when orbiting the sun.

>group of people with some engineering knowledge and an achievable amount of money could easily launch a missile into space<

ie. people like the German Isar Aerospace Startup, which raised 800 Millions just to get 2 launches done?

No - space is hard.

> Data centers in space would be well protected from anyone but nation state level actors though.

There is always some ingenious attacker though.

New York probably thought it was safe pre 911.

Could they really though? Isn't it possible to focus som lasers from someone's backyard and cause damage?

Things in space would be safe, but not launch sites or factories or transportation on land.