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1. gok+h4[view] [source] 2026-02-02 22:06:22
>>g-mork+(OP)
> it is possible to put 500 to 1000 TW/year of AI satellites into deep space, meaningfully ascend the Kardashev scale and harness a non-trivial percentage of the Sun’s power

We currently make around 1 TW of photovoltaic cells per year, globally. The proposal here is to launch that much to space every 9 hours, complete with attached computers, continuously, from the moon.

edit: Also, this would capture a very trivial percentage of the Sun's power. A few trillionths per year.

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2. moeadh+Lf[view] [source] 2026-02-02 22:47:12
>>gok+h4
In fairness, solar cells can be about 5x more efficient in space (irradiance, uptime).
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3. cowsan+Yn[view] [source] 2026-02-02 23:19:09
>>moeadh+Lf
It is more than 5x less expensive to get surface area on earth’s surface.
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4. schiff+nw[view] [source] 2026-02-02 23:58:01
>>cowsan+Yn
The dominant factor is "balance of system" aka soft costs, which are well over 50%.[0]

Orbit gets you the advantage of 1/5th the PV and no large daily smoothing battery, but also no on-site installation cost, no grid interconnect fees, no custom engineering drawings, no environmental permitting fees, no grid of concrete footers, no heavy steel frames to resist wind and snow loads. The "on-site installation" is just the panels unfolding, and during launch they're compact so the support structure can be relatively lightweight.

When you cost building the datacenter alone, it's cheaper on earth. When you cost building the solar + batteries + datacenter, it (can be) cheaper in space, if you build it right and have cheap orbital launch.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_system

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5. IX-103+ry[view] [source] 2026-02-03 00:08:53
>>schiff+nw
Funny, I would have included transportation as part of the installation cost. You didn't mention that one.
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6. schiff+HD[view] [source] 2026-02-03 00:42:30
>>IX-103+ry
I do say it's predicated on cheap orbital launch. Clearly they expect Starship to deliver, and they're "skating to where the puck will be" on overall system cost per unit of compute.

But yeah, I didn't include that delivering all that stuff by truck (including all the personnel) to a terrestrial PV site isn't free either.

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