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[return to "Data centers in space makes no sense"]
1. beloch+kK[view] [source] 2026-02-03 23:33:46
>>ajyoon+(OP)
I would not assume cooling has been worked out.

Space is a vacuum. i.e. The lack-of-a-thing that makes a thermos great at keeping your drink hot. A satellite is, if nothing else, a fantastic thermos. A data center in space would necessarily rely completely on cooling by radiation, unlike a terrestrial data center that can make use of convection and conduction. You can't just pipe heat out into the atmosphere or build a heat exchanger. You can't exchange heat with vacuum. You can only radiate heat into it.

Heat is going to limit the compute that can be done in a satellite data centre and radiative cooling solutions are going to massively increase weight. It makes far more sense to build data centers in the arctic.

Musk is up to something here. This could be another hyperloop (i.e. A distracting promise meant to sabotage competition). It could be a legal dodge. It could be a power grab. What it will not be is a useful source of computing power. Anyone who takes this venture seriously is probably going to be burned.

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2. Punchy+bQ1[view] [source] 2026-02-04 08:40:43
>>beloch+kK
It has been worked out. Just look at how big are ISS radiators and that they dissipate around 100kW then calculate cost of sending all that to space. And by that I mean it would be even more expensive that some of the estimates flying around

While personally I think it's another AI cash grab and he just wants to find some more customers for spacex, other thing is "you can't copyright infringe in space" so it might be perfect place to load that terabytes of stolen copyrighted material to train data sets, if some country suddenly decides corporation stealing copyright content is not okay any more

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3. Correc+qT1[view] [source] 2026-02-04 09:05:17
>>Punchy+bQ1
Maybe you can't copyright infringe in space, but it's still infringement when the result gets back to earth.
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4. randyr+i32[view] [source] 2026-02-04 10:22:31
>>Correc+qT1
Keep the result in space, and use large telescopes to look at it!
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5. Rugnir+K82[view] [source] 2026-02-04 11:04:13
>>randyr+i32
the result is the result. If you look at it and use it for something, you have moved the result. Its not a physical object that exists in a place, its an idea. Hence IP. Intellectual property.
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6. estear+pk2[view] [source] 2026-02-04 12:30:42
>>Rugnir+K82
Really depends on how good your lawyers are
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