By Scott Kanowsky
Investing.com -- Shares in Thales (EPA:TCFP) rose on Tuesday after the French defense group's joint venture with Italy's Leonardo SpA (BIT:LDOF) was chosen by the European Commission to lead a study into the possibility of installing data centers in space.
The announcement, first released on Monday, will see the joint company - known as Thales Alenia Space - investigate if the stations could orbit around the Earth using solar power.
"The first objective of this study will be to assess if the carbon emissions from the production and launch of these space infrastructures will be significantly lower than the emissions generated by ground-based data centers," Thales said in a statement.
It added that findings from the project would help support the EU Commission's goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 as well.
Milan-listed shares in Leonardo were also in the green in late-afternoon trading.