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1. jedber+md[view] [source] 2025-05-13 21:37:18
>>wiley1+(OP)
I've been saying for a long time that we should consider remote areas for building datacenters for batch processing.

At first I thought the poles (of the planet) might be good. The cooling is basically free. But the energy and internet connectivity would be a problem. At the poles you can really only get solar about three months a year, and even then you need a lot of panels. Most of Antarctica is powered diesel because of this.

So the next thought was space. At the time, launching to space was way too costly for it to ever make sense. But now, with much cheaper launches, space is accessible.

Power seems easily solved. You can get lots of free energy from the sun with some modest panels. But to do that requires an odd orbit where you wouldn't be over the same spot on earth, which could make internet access difficult. Or you can go geostationary over a powerful ground station, but then you'd need some really big batteries for all the time you aren't in the sun.

But cooling is a huge problem. Space is cold, but there is no medium to transfer the heat away from the hot objects. I think this will be the biggest sticking point, unless they came up with an innovative solution.

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2. vasco+qe[view] [source] 2025-05-13 21:43:04
>>jedber+md
> But to do that requires an odd orbit where you wouldn't be over the same spot on earth, which could make internet access difficult

Routing through starlink should have direct LoS at all times.

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3. jshear+Wf[view] [source] 2025-05-13 21:52:24
>>vasco+qe
Whether Starlink can keep up with the bandwidth demands of orbital datacenters is another question though.

(probably not)

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4. vasco+Nv1[view] [source] 2025-05-14 10:54:52
>>jshear+Wf
I'd imagine the bandwidth limitations are physical and similar for Starlink or other satellites either now or very soon. I was replying to the LoS concerns, I agree overall this doesn't work, but I don't think it's because of LoS problems.
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