3 ms·

Terafab

18 points by kamaal 2mo ago

actionfromafar 2mo ago
It's no longer Mars, it's the Galaxy. Must be a prank site?
BadBadJellyBean 2mo ago
At one point people stop believing in these grandiose marketing stunts. I hope the time is now.
phonkd 2mo ago
[dead]
Gecko4072 2mo ago
Dr. Tom Murphy seems highly relevant here. https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/the-energy-trap/ https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/the-energy-trap/ also: https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions
OkWing99 2mo ago
Site is legit - https://www.tesla.com/careers/search/?department=terafab&site=US https://www.tesla.com/careers/search/?department=terafab&sit... I wouldn't be surprised if it's another Musk pump-and-dump scheme for SpaceX. We'll be seeing more of these every quarter now.
- thehamkercat 2mo ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47969237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47969237 Posted 3 months ago as well, might not be new
grepex 2mo ago
For anyone out there who might know: To achieve a Type II civilization, is a Dyson Swarm currently the best theoretical approach or are there others that are more promising?
- ButlerianJihad 2mo ago
  I don't have an answer for you, but I have a reminder to all the would-be Dyson Sphere buffs out there: Dyson Spheres are supposed to be built around a star, not around a planet! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
- lowmagnet 2mo ago
  We're not even close to type I, anyway.
  - grepex 2mo ago
    Yeah, I realize that. Type 2 seems more intriguing to me though. I wonder what sort of impact it would have on a solar system to harness most of the star's energy. Is there a sort of outer space ecosystem that it would disrupt?
delichon 2mo ago
The scale of this thing seems science fictional. https://x.com/ChrisJBakke/status/2085519392285380966 https://x.com/ChrisJBakke/status/2085519392285380966 That's 15 Pentagons.
- LargoLasskhyfv 2mo ago
  Where? There: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbons_Creek_Reservoir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbons_Creek_Reservoir
thehamkercat 2mo ago
> 10 Million Tons of mass/year launched into orbit Not something to be proud of...
- delichon 2mo ago
  Given the fragility of the biosphere and the determination of powerful factions to break it, developing the capability to be a tiny bit existentially independent of it is good.
jrflo 2mo ago
> Cost of compute on Earth Power build Permitting Operating costs Land Energy costs Infrastructure Cooling > Cost of compute in space Launch cost Operating costs Satellite build Infrastructure I thought it was pretty hilarious that they removed "cooling" as a requirement for orbital compute when it's actually way harder to keep something cool on a satellite than on earth. There is no matter floating around in orbit to dump heat into...
- dlcarrier 2mo ago
  They didn't mention it, because it's barely an inconvenience. Why does everyone seem to think it's super difficult? It's really easy to keep things cool in space. Radiant cooling is very effective when the background energy is 3° K. The radiators don't even need to be as large as the solar panels picking up energy. The most difficult challenge for satellite temperature regulation is the sudden changes in solar heating when passing in and out of Earth's shadow, but these satellites would be in an orbit that doesn't cross behind earth's shadow, making thermal regulation simpler than most low- and medium-Earth-orbit satellites. It's not like it's easy on earth. Servers on earth almost always require a heat pump between the computer and outside, whether directly cooling the computer or cooling the air in a room the computer is running in. Almost all of the cooling comes through convective action, which requires significant air or water movement, or if that isn't enough evaporating water may be needed.
  - jrflo 2mo ago
    https://spectrum.ieee.org/orbital-data-centers-heat https://spectrum.ieee.org/orbital-data-centers-heat This analysis calculates 80 square meters of radiator surface area needed per rack, or 200,000 square meters per 100 MW. It's not to say it can't be done, I think orbital data centers could actually be a pretty good idea, but to say cooling is a nonissue is disingenuous. Innovations are needed there to make it work.
    - dlcarrier 2mo ago
      Again, that's less than the surface area needed for the solar panels, and the body of the satellite itself is included in that. As far as satellite design goes, the thermal design is easier than radiation hardening or vibration resistance, and unlike something running on earth, there's no ongoing costs associated with it. As far as things to worry about when designing a satellite, it's as much of an issue as making sure the power supplies are the right voltage and the radio is running on the right frequency, which is to say you check to make sure you got it right, but otherwise it's a non issue.

Terafab

18 points by kamaal 2mo ago

actionfromafar 2mo ago

It's no longer Mars, it's the Galaxy. Must be a prank site?

BadBadJellyBean 2mo ago

At one point people stop believing in these grandiose marketing stunts. I hope the time is now.

phonkd 2mo ago

[dead]

Gecko4072 2mo ago

Dr. Tom Murphy seems highly relevant here. https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/the-energy-trap/ https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2011/10/the-energy-trap/ also: https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions https://escholarship.org/uc/energy_ambitions

OkWing99 2mo ago

Site is legit - https://www.tesla.com/careers/search/?department=terafab&site=US https://www.tesla.com/careers/search/?department=terafab&sit... I wouldn't be surprised if it's another Musk pump-and-dump scheme for SpaceX. We'll be seeing more of these every quarter now.

thehamkercat 2mo ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47969237 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47969237 Posted 3 months ago as well, might not be new

grepex 2mo ago

For anyone out there who might know: To achieve a Type II civilization, is a Dyson Swarm currently the best theoretical approach or are there others that are more promising?

ButlerianJihad 2mo ago
I don't have an answer for you, but I have a reminder to all the would-be Dyson Sphere buffs out there: Dyson Spheres are supposed to be built around a star, not around a planet! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
lowmagnet 2mo ago
We're not even close to type I, anyway.
- grepex 2mo ago
  Yeah, I realize that. Type 2 seems more intriguing to me though. I wonder what sort of impact it would have on a solar system to harness most of the star's energy. Is there a sort of outer space ecosystem that it would disrupt?

delichon 2mo ago

The scale of this thing seems science fictional. https://x.com/ChrisJBakke/status/2085519392285380966 https://x.com/ChrisJBakke/status/2085519392285380966 That's 15 Pentagons.

LargoLasskhyfv 2mo ago
Where? There: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbons_Creek_Reservoir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbons_Creek_Reservoir

thehamkercat 2mo ago

> 10 Million Tons of mass/year launched into orbit Not something to be proud of...

delichon 2mo ago
Given the fragility of the biosphere and the determination of powerful factions to break it, developing the capability to be a tiny bit existentially independent of it is good.

jrflo 2mo ago

> Cost of compute on Earth Power build Permitting Operating costs Land Energy costs Infrastructure Cooling > Cost of compute in space Launch cost Operating costs Satellite build Infrastructure I thought it was pretty hilarious that they removed "cooling" as a requirement for orbital compute when it's actually way harder to keep something cool on a satellite than on earth. There is no matter floating around in orbit to dump heat into...

dlcarrier 2mo ago
They didn't mention it, because it's barely an inconvenience. Why does everyone seem to think it's super difficult? It's really easy to keep things cool in space. Radiant cooling is very effective when the background energy is 3° K. The radiators don't even need to be as large as the solar panels picking up energy. The most difficult challenge for satellite temperature regulation is the sudden changes in solar heating when passing in and out of Earth's shadow, but these satellites would be in an orbit that doesn't cross behind earth's shadow, making thermal regulation simpler than most low- and medium-Earth-orbit satellites. It's not like it's easy on earth. Servers on earth almost always require a heat pump between the computer and outside, whether directly cooling the computer or cooling the air in a room the computer is running in. Almost all of the cooling comes through convective action, which requires significant air or water movement, or if that isn't enough evaporating water may be needed.
- jrflo 2mo ago
  https://spectrum.ieee.org/orbital-data-centers-heat https://spectrum.ieee.org/orbital-data-centers-heat This analysis calculates 80 square meters of radiator surface area needed per rack, or 200,000 square meters per 100 MW. It's not to say it can't be done, I think orbital data centers could actually be a pretty good idea, but to say cooling is a nonissue is disingenuous. Innovations are needed there to make it work.
  - dlcarrier 2mo ago
    Again, that's less than the surface area needed for the solar panels, and the body of the satellite itself is included in that. As far as satellite design goes, the thermal design is easier than radiation hardening or vibration resistance, and unlike something running on earth, there's no ongoing costs associated with it. As far as things to worry about when designing a satellite, it's as much of an issue as making sure the power supplies are the right voltage and the radio is running on the right frequency, which is to say you check to make sure you got it right, but otherwise it's a non issue.