2 ms·
Their numbers strike me as very optimistic: *Table 1. Cost comparison of a single 40 MW cluster operated for 10 years in space vs on land.* | Cost Ite
by runlevel1 1y ago
Their numbers strike me as very optimistic:
*Table 1. Cost comparison of a single 40 MW cluster operated for 10 years in space vs on land.*
| Cost Item | Terrestrial | Space
|:------------------------------|:--------------------------------|:----------------
| Energy (10 years) | $140m @ $0.04 per kWh | $2m cost of solar array
| Launch | None | $5m (single launch of compute module, solar & radiators)
| Cooling (chiller energy cost) | $7m @ 5% of overall power usage | More efficient cooling architecture taking advantage of higher ΔT in space
| Water usage | 1.7m tons @ 0.5L/kWh | Not required
| Enclosure (Sat. Bus/Building) | Approximately equivalent cost | Approximately equivalent cost
| Backup power supply | $20m | Not required
| All other DC hardware | Approximately equivalent cost | Approximately equivalent cost
| Radiation shielding | Not required | $1.2m @ 1 kg of shielding per kW of compute and $30/kg launch cost
| Cost Balance | $167m | $8.2m
Source: Page 4 of their whitepaper https://starcloudinc.github.io/wp.pdf https://starcloudinc.github.io/wp.pdf
- MrZander 1y ago> $5m (single launch of compute module, solar & radiators) This seems absurdly low to me.
- gs17 1y agoIt is, unless you take Musk's hype about Starship as fact. With rockets that are actually potentially available the best price is $1500/kg to LEO, so either they're presuming the whole setup weighs in at 3-4 tons (which is less than the shielding alone) or that they can get it launched for a few orders of magnitude less than what's on the market now (and they do say they assume $30/kg).