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Even if invented, what is the advantage of orbit data centers?
by croes 3mo ago
Even if invented, what is the advantage of orbit data centers?
- 0cf8612b2e1e 3mo agoThe best I have heard: It makes you fully independent of the terrestrial energy grid. There is also some nebulous freedom from governmental authority possibilities. Both of which strike me as poor arguments. We are in a short term energy crunch. I expect within five years that most of the energy problems will be resolved and the eye watering financials of launching a GPU into space will look absurd Governments also do not like to cede authority, so I find it hard to believe that they will not claim jurisdiction over any business operating within their borders (all of those ground stations).
- bakies 3mo agoif you launch enough solar panels to power the data center into space, its easier to put them on the ground. Yeah there's some less power, but also have six times the lifespan so just build twice as many and it's still more efficient. Getting land in Texas can't be that hard.
- idontwantthis 3mo agoYou could build them at the South Pole, or at the bottom of the ocean and it will still be easier than putting them in space. Just think of maintenance. Oh no, your power supply burned out Space: Welp, that entire data center node is dead now. Antarctica: OK, put a technician on a modified C-130.
- amanaplanacanal 3mo agoI think the idea is easy energy availability and no push back from the locals. Those both seem to be to be fairly simple to solve on the ground compared to the unsolved issues doing it in orbit.
- scottyah 3mo agoThe Laws of Physics are much easier to build around than the Laws of Men.
- largbae 3mo agoRegulatory problems are doing the heavy lifting. Sure power is "free", if you can launch it, station keep it and cool it and if the data services are useful at the modem latencies of geosync and lunar orbits. But if datacenter projects can't be built/powered fast enough due to permitting, this is an expensive workaround.
- bakies 3mo agoThe orbits are lower than that. Not that it changes the point.
- ben_w 3mo agoAlso, the lifetime of the panels on the ground is longer by about the same multiple as the power advantage of going to space, so if you're limited by the size of your photovoltaic factory, there's no reason to go to space.
- TheOtherHobbes 3mo agoNo planning restrictions. Throw up as many as you can afford to build and launch. No grid strain because they're self-powered. And they're likely out of national jurisdictions, so you can generate all the porn you want. Technologically? Maaaaaybe a slight ping time reduction in certain configurations compared to terrestrial fiber, because even with multiple hops lasers can still be faster than fiber. Super-expensive, questionably economic way to do it though.