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1. Saline+v3[view] [source] 2026-02-02 22:03:54
>>g-mork+(OP)
I still don't understand the "data center in space" narrative. How are they going to solve the cooling issue?
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2. sebzim+94[view] [source] 2026-02-02 22:06:02
>>Saline+v3
Cooling a datacenter in space isn't really any harder than cooling a starlink in space, the ratio of solar panels to radiating area will have to be about the same. There is nothing uniquely heat-producing about GPUs, ultimately almost all energy collected by a satellite's solar panels ends up as heat in the satellite.

IMO the big problem is the lack of maintainability.

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3. lifis+Vg[view] [source] 2026-02-02 22:51:17
>>sebzim+94
According to Gemini, Earth datacenters cost $7m per MW at the low end (without compute) and solar panel power plants cost $0.5-1.5m per MW, giving $7.5-8.5m per MW overall.

Starlink V2 mini satellites are around 10kW and costs $1-1.5m to launch, for a cost of $100-150m per MW.

So if Gemini is right it seems a datacenter made of Starlinks costs 10-20x more and has a limited lifetime, i.e. it seems unprofitable right now.

In general it seems unlikely to be profitable until there is no more space for solar panels on Earth.

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