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I asked Google for more information about AI datacenter in space. This was the first sentence, 'AI data centers are being developed in space to handle the massi
by yardie 10mo ago
I asked Google for more information about AI datacenter in space. This was the first sentence, 'AI data centers are being developed in space to handle the massive energy demands of AI, using solar power and the vacuum of space for cooling.'
> After laughing at "the vacuum of space for cooling" I closed the page because there was nothing serious there. Basic high school physics student would be laughing at that sentence.
- ReptileMan 10mo agoYou can radiate the excess energy away on the non-sun facing part. In theory.
- fhars 10mo agoThere are even commercially available prototypes of that vacuum cooling technology, if you want to perform your own experiments with that concept: https://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Stainless-Ounce-Drink-Bottle/dp/B01DZQSWQ4?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Stainless-Ounce-Drink-Bottle/...
- RugnirViking 10mo agothis kind of sarcasm will go over their head. People truly don't understand vacuums
- ReptileMan 10mo agoI absolutely don't understand how vacuum works. So I absolutely cannot model how a Dewar flask which has 15 billion light year thickness between the inner and outer wall - a wall that is very close to absolute zero will behave.
- sanex 10mo agoThat's my water bottle. 10/10 would recommend for not passing temperature gradients.
- ahartmetz 10mo agoTo be fair, they have mirror surfaces inside. A more realistic prototype would be ultra-black for something like 10-50x better radiative heat transfer. Of course it would still be more like shitty insulation than like good conduction.
- Sharlin 10mo agoYes. And it's an absolutely terrible way to get rid of heat. Cooling in space is a major problem because the actually effective ways to do it are not available.
- dayjah 10mo agoSerious question: how in theory? I’m under the impression you need to radiate through matter (air, water, physical materials, etc). Is my understanding of the theory just wrong?
- LegionMammal978 10mo agoHeat conduction requires a medium, but radiation works perfectly fine in a vacuum. Otherwise the Sun wouldn't be able to heat up the Earth. The problem for spacecraft is that you're limited by how much IR radiation is passively emitted from your heat sinks, you can't actively expel heat any faster.
- ethmarks 10mo agoThere is some medium in low Earth orbit. Not all vacuums are created equal. However, LEO vacuum is still very, very sparse compared to the air and water we use for cooling systems. The main way that heat dissipates from space stations and satellites is through thermal radiation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation.
- estimator7292 10mo agoHot objects emit infrared light no matter the conditions. The hotter the object, the more light it throws off. By radiating this light away, thermal energy is necessarily consumed and transformed into light. It's kind of wild actually
- Avicebron 10mo agoIt's not the Sun..it's the lack of medium.
- ethmarks 10mo agoThere's no air and negligible thermal medium to convect heat away. The only way heat leaves is through convection from the extremely sparse atmosphere in low Earth orbit (less than a single atom per cubic millimeter) and through thermal radiation. Both of which are much, much slower than convection with water or air. Space stations need enormous radiator panels to dissipate the heat from the onboard computers and the body heat of a few humans. Cooling an entire data center would require utterly colossal radiator panels.
- jhanschoo 10mo agoYou can radiate the excess energy away on the non-sun facing part on Earth almost just as well..., though corrosion is an issue.
- ffsm8 10mo ago"just as well"? I man you totally can radiate excess heat energy on earth, but your comment implies that the parents idea of radiating off excess "energy", specifically HEAT energy in space is possible, which it isn't. You can radiate excess energy for sure, but you'd first have to convert it away from heat energy into light or radio waves or similar. I don't think we even have that tech at this point in time, and neither do we have any concepts how this could be done in theory.
- ReptileMan 10mo ago>specifically HEAT energy in space is possible, which it isn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-body_radiation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-body_radiation
- ffsm8 10mo agoI see, yes. I was thinking more along the lines of radiating heat energy at a scale that's useable for cooling, not at the more extreme levels of over 500°C/1k fahrenheit That's technically correct I guess, at some temperature threshold it becomes possible to bleed some fractions of energy while the material is exceedingly hot.
- jhanschoo 10mo agoYeah, my comment was intended to be mildly sarcastic in that the proposed heat transmission mechanism already happens on Earth and is yet so dramatically insignificant at usual temperatures that we struggle all the time with managing heat transfer through other means.
- Ekaros 10mo agoI wonder if there should be levels of "in theory". Yes theoretically black body radiation exist and well stuff cools down to near background radiation via that. But the next level is theoretical implementation. Like actually moving around the heat from source and so on. Maybe this could be the spherical cow step... Reminds me of the hyperloop. Well yes, things in vacuum tube go fast. Now does enough things go fast to make any sense...
- salawat 10mo ago>Now does enough things go fast to make any sense... You're worried about rates when we can't even get the ball rolling on safety for human occupancy, maintenance, workability. I swear, nothing on Earth more dangerous than someone with dollar signs in their eyes.
- morshu9001 10mo agoPassively yeah. Can't imagine it's anywhere near as fast as evap or chillers
- adastra22 10mo agoNo, you can't. You need to radiate away all the heat being received from the sun facing half, AND excess heat from the compute. Even in theory, the non-sun-facing part doesn't give you any benefit. It's already part of the system that accounted for the temperature of the sun-facing side.
- smokel 10mo agoYou could help by using the thumbs down button below the answer.
- doctorzook 10mo agoWhy is it my job to train the machines?
- Waterluvian 10mo agoIf you would kindly consult your Human HR Universal Handbook (2025 Edition) and navigate to section 226.8.2F, you’ll be gently reminded that it’s the responsibility of any and all employees to train their replacements.
- throwaway198846 10mo agoWhere can I find a copy?
- wiz21c 10mo agoyou have to steal it from the HR department. They do have a copy but they won't tell you.
- Waterluvian 10mo agoPlease consult your Human HR Universal Handbook (2025 Edition) on how to request a new copy of the Human HR Universal Handbook (2025 Edition). I believe it's in Volume III Section 9912.64.1 or thereabouts.
- quesera 10mo agoTypically, these sorts of things are located in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard'. So, it makes sense to always start there.
- oskarkk 10mo ago
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- throaway123213 10mo agoI'mma guess that AI mixed up "datacenter" with "Dyson" to get nonsensical returns involving both vacuums AND space!
- tim333 10mo agoI tried Google and it pointed me to a ycombinator video about Starcloud https://youtu.be/hKw6cRKcqzY https://youtu.be/hKw6cRKcqzY They launched a satellite with one H100 in on Nov 2nd. >I mean, when you tell people that within 10 years it could be the case that most new data centers are being built in space, that sounds wacky to a lot of people, but not to YC. (8:00)