Unseen Cost of Space Computing: Quantifying LEO Battery Aging via Physics-Driven Modeling

TL;DR

This paper introduces a physics-driven model to quantify how in-orbit computational workloads accelerate battery aging in LEO satellites, highlighting the importance of adaptive energy management strategies for long-term system viability.

Contribution

It presents a high-fidelity, physics-based model linking satellite computational workload to nonlinear battery degradation, enabling more accurate lifetime predictions and optimized scheduling.

Findings

Adaptive scheduling policies improve satellite battery lifespan.

Solar-rich conditions favor immediate solar utilization strategies.

Energy-scarce conditions benefit from reactive, battery-aware policies.

Abstract

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations in the 6G era are evolving into intelligent in-orbit computational platforms, forming Space Computing Power Networks (SCPNs) to deliver global-scale computing services. However, the intensive computation within SCPN incurs a significant ``unseen cost'': the frequent charge-discharge cycles accelerate the physical degradation of satellites' life-limiting and high-cost batteries, thereby threatening the long-term operational viability of such a system. Existing approaches, often relying on indirect metrics like Depth of Discharge (DoD) and neglecting the complex, nonlinear degradation process of battery aging, fail to accurately quantify this cost. To address this, we introduce a high-fidelity, physics-driven model that quantitatively links computational workload parameters to the nonlinear battery degradation. Building on this model, we formulate a degradation-aware scheduling problem and analyze heuristic policies across different energy regimes. Simulations reveal that the optimal strategy should be adaptive: in solar-rich conditions, a myopic policy maximizing instantaneous solar utilization is superior, whereas under energy scarcity, a reactive policy leveraging real-time battery state significantly extends lifetime.