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Why do people talk about data centers in space? Heat management is wayyy harder in space.
by hiddencost 1y ago
Why do people talk about data centers in space? Heat management is wayyy harder in space.
- coolspot 1y agoCommon folk assume that the space is super-cold, so it must be good for hot servers.
- GMoromisato 1y agoI don't know about common folk, but I've heard about radiators, which can be as large as you want if you can get mass to orbit cheaply.
- m4rtink 1y agoSure, but also much less efficient per unit of mass than regular cooling using the atmosphere or hydrosphere here on Earth.
- Iwan-Zotow 1y agoWell. 2.7K is cold
- GMoromisato 1y agoLots of things are harder in space; maybe even everything. But it has some benefits, like abundant solar power, lots of room, and line-of-sight to large chunks of Earth. Almost all the problems can be solved by cheaper access to space, whereas the benefits cannot be easily recreated on Earth. Is it guaranteed to work? My point is that we don't know, despite confident assertions one way or the other. If it does work, the benefits are clear, and that's why it's worth trying.
- yencabulator 1y agoSimple: VC money. The only thing surprising to me about that is that the pitch wasn't "AI in space". My take: The idea that heavy computing in LEO is better than sending data down to Earth sounds very naive. Starlink is great proof that the bandwidth is plentiful and the latency is good, once the equipment is modern. Definitely cheaper and easier than cooling a datacenter.
- xnx 1y ago> The only thing surprising to me about that is that the pitch wasn't "AI in space". "enabling the future of AI by deploying the largest training clusters on data centers in space." https://www.starcloud.com/ https://www.starcloud.com/