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[return to "Put a data center on the moon?"]
1. M95D+E6[view] [source] 2025-02-26 21:02:26
>>pseudo+(OP)
> Some parts of the moon are permanently shadowed and therefore extremely cold, as low as -173 °C. This means that no energy or water would need to be expended to cool the data center.

That doesn't sound right to me. If there's no air, then only black body radiation can be used to cool the data center. That means a massive radiator, a lot larger than a heat-to-air radiator+fan used on earth.

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2. foxyv+Qs[view] [source] 2025-02-26 23:35:27
>>M95D+E6
A 1 meter square heat exchanger in a vacuum at 20C will emit about 1 kilowatt at -173C. So about as much as a small space heater per small panel. So a 1 megawatt datacenter would need about 300,000m^2 or 0.3 km^2 of surface area to cool it.

But geothermal cooling would be great on the moon too. Run a pipe 2 meters under the lunar surface and it is -21C.

I think the whole idea though is to make a low wattage space-stead so you can store copies of Moana out of reach of Disney cease and desist letters.

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3. lmm+hz[view] [source] 2025-02-27 00:26:24
>>foxyv+Qs
> geothermal cooling would be great on the moon

Surely it's selenthermal cooling at that point.

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4. foxyv+t02[view] [source] 2025-02-27 15:51:31
>>lmm+hz
Thank you for the correction. Shows my geocentric thinking.
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