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[return to "Data centers in space makes no sense"]
1. elamje+ba1[view] [source] 2026-02-04 02:16:32
>>ajyoon+(OP)
I was talking to someone about this the other day. I was part of a team at NASA that developed a cooling system for the ISS and this whole premise makes no sense to me.

1. Getting things to space is incredibly expensive

2. Ingress/egress are almost always a major bottleneck - how is bandwidth cheaper in space?

3. Chips must be “Rad-hard” - that is do more error correcting from ionizing radiation - there were entire teams at NASA dedicated to special hardware for this.

4. Gravity and atmospheric pressure actually do wonders for easy cooling. Heat is not dissipated in space like we are all used to and you must burn additional energy trying to move the heat generated away from source.

5. Energy production will be cheaper from earth due to mass manufacturing of necessary components in energy systems - space energy systems need novel technology where economies of scale are lost.

Would love for someone to make the case for why it actually makes total sense, because it’s really hard to see for me!

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2. UltraS+JG3[view] [source] 2026-02-04 19:14:34
>>elamje+ba1
It doesn't make sense. It is just Musk trying to pump up SpaceX valuation before the IPO.
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