Drew McCormackMay 13
Jon Sterling

What’s the deal with orbital data centers? It seems like there’s no chance of cooling these things in a vacuum. Does Elon Musk just think “hmm, but space is cold right???”

I’m honestly really confused about how this is expected to be better than Earthside data centers.

May 13 at 6:33amWeb
Show threadJosh SimmonsMay 13
@jonmsterling i get the feeling they all know it's a scam, like there's no way. hyperloop 2.0
Show threadOwen LynchMay 13
@jonmsterling Yes this drives me nuts it's so stupid. The ocean would be a far better place for cooling, but I believe people already determined that to be impractical because it's hard to swap out hardware that fails. Space is far worse with regard to that, and there's no cooling. Gah.
Show threadMatteo CapucciMay 13
@olynch @jonmsterling Scott Manley did a bunch of videos about this. TLDR it's a speculative idea but cooling isn't as much of a problem as it might seem at first sight. I was very surprised. Also, Starlink satellites are already quite power intensive so the tech is partly proven (I guess that's why SpaceX is so keen on the idea).
Personally I'd much prefer having all that energy-hungry stuff in space than here, but I'm worried about emissions from launch and the enormous waste and pollution due to tens of thousands of satellite deorbiting every year. No amount of tech will improve that (at least not in the foreseeable future).
Show threadGrégoire LocquevilleMay 13

@jonmsterling

> If you're saying to yourself surely giant companies and major space agencies wouldn't just spout bullshit, I'm sorry, but they have been doing this since the beginning. Space based solar is comparably silly, and it pops up from pretty much every agency every decade or so.

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:o72ypk5c474zqklkukaphuy3/post/3me4irxexf22q

Zach Weinersmith (@zachweinersmith.bsky.social)

PS: If you're saying to yourself surely giant companies and major space agencies wouldn't just spout bullshit, I'm sorry, but they have been doing this since the beginning. Space based solar is comparably silly, and it pops up from pretty much every agency every decade or so.

Bluesky Social
Show threadLiam O'ConnorMay 13
@jonmsterling yes it's colossally stupid, been a while since I did this kind of physics but radiating out the heat would require enormous radiators that would probably be super expensive to get up into orbit.
Show threadDavid MonniauxMay 13

@liamoc @jonmsterling You may wish to read my piece:
https://theconversation.com/pourrait-on-faire-fonctionner-des-data-centers-dans-lespace-274582

Several journalists have asked me "but when why does Elon Musk talks about them" or similar questions.

Pourrait-on faire fonctionner des data centers dans l’espace ?

Différents acteurs proposent d’utiliser des satellites pour faire des calculs. En d’autres termes, il s’agit d’envoyer des data centers dans l’espace. Est-ce réaliste ? Un informaticien fait le point.

The Conversation
Show threadLiam O'ConnorMay 13
@MonniauxD @jonmsterling I hadn't even thought about the cosmic ray resistant hardware!
Show threadTristan NguyenMay 13
@jonmsterling Yeah, that’s what he believes. In the vacuum of space, there’s no medium for convective or conductive heat transfer. Thermal energy can’t be transported away from a heat source thru conventional means. This is why spacecraft use radiative structures that look like antennas to dissipate heat.
Show threadJon SterlingMay 13
@TristanNguyen This is so baffling... Well, I'm not a space engineer so I don't know how difficult it would be to use these radiators, but this seems so much worse in every way than just doing it on earth...
Show threadPhilippa CowderoyMay 13
@jonmsterling @TristanNguyen unless you own an AI company and a space company and are trying to sell shares to people who haven't already noticed that you're a lying sack of shit
Show threadPhilippa CowderoyMay 13
@jonmsterling @TristanNguyen (military might want "what compute we can get" coupled to a bunch of sensors for latency reasons, but that's a different unpleasant mess)
Show threadTristan NguyenMay 13
@jonmsterling Yeah. It’s costly and impractical, assuming that it’s feasible with nanomaterials, say. You’d still need a high-speed data link to/from Earth. He thought it’d be as “easy” as FSD capability. I doubt he knows why the latter is unattainable for now, and possibly far into the future as well.
Show threadShawnT 🔧🐀May 13
@TristanNguyen @jonmsterling
Even with radiators, it's not easy. The ISS has radiators that use liquid ammonia as the pumped coolant. That's a lot of volatile, delicate stuff to shoot into space without a work truck and crew to repair it.
Show threadSam Tobin-HochstadtMay 13
@jonmsterling The idea is that (a) solar energy is very abundant in space (b) developing more energy here on earth is hard and (c) they already have a goal of another OOM reduction in costs of launching things into space. If they hit those goals it might (or might not) work.