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The ISS consumes roughly 90kW. That’s about *one* modern AI/ML server rack. To do that they need 1000 m^2 of radiator panels (EACTS). So that’s the math: every
by hyperbovine 8mo ago
The ISS consumes roughly 90kW. That’s about *one* modern AI/ML server rack. To do that they need 1000 m^2 of radiator panels (EACTS). So that’s the math: every rack needs another square kilometer of stuff put into orbit. Doesn’t make sense to me.
- jcgrillo 8mo agoAnd what happens every time a rack (or node) fails? Does someone go out and try to fix it? Do we just "deorbit" it? How many tons per second of crap would we be burning in the upper atmosphere now? What are the consequences of that? How do the racks (or nodes) talk to eachother? Radios? Lasers? What about the Kessler Syndrome? Not a rocket scientist but 100% agree this sounds like a dead end.
- elihu 8mo agoCommunication is a well-understood problem, and SpaceX already has Starlink. They might need pretty high bandwidth, but that's not necessarily much of a problem in space. Latency could be a problem, except that AI training isn't the sort of problem where you care about latency. I'd be curious where exactly they plan to put these datacenters... In low Earth orbit they would eventually reenter, which makes them a pollution source and you'd have no solar power half the time. Parking them at the Earth-Sun L1 point would be better for solar power, but it would be more expensive to get stuff there.
- WalterBright 8mo ago> you'd have no solar power half the time Polar orbit.
- woooooo 8mo agoSeasons mess that up unless you're burning fuel to make minor plane changes every day. Otherwise you have an equinox where your plane faces the sun (equivalent to an equatorial orbit) and a solstice where your plane is parallel to the sun (the ideal case).
- WalterBright 8mo agoTrue. It would a tradeoff with the fuel consumed vs doubling power output.
- oliv5900 8mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-synchronous_orbit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-synchronous_orbit A Sun Synchronous orbit at the Day-Night terminator solves this issue
- WalterBright 8mo agoI didn't think of that! I should have had a V8. Thanks for the info.
- elihu 8mo agoHuh, I didn't know that that was possible without burning fuel. Kind of wild that it only works because the Earth has an equatorial bulge and isn't an exact sphere.
- mr_toad 8mo agoSatellites can spin! You also need to deal with precession and other minor chances in the orbit, but they’re all solved problems.
- tacticus 8mo ago> SpaceX already has Starlink. They might need pretty high bandwidth you mean the network that has less capacity than a fibre pair per coverage area?
- dnqthao 8mo ago1000m2 is not a square kilometer (1 square kilometer is 1mil m2)
- sgt 8mo ago1000 square meters really isn't that big in space.