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1. iknows+(OP)[view] [source] 2026-02-04 00:23:28
Remember how he argued for Tesla’s Solarcity acquisition because solar roofs?

Data centers in space are the same kind of justification imo.

replies(1): >>Mobius+21
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2. Mobius+21[view] [source] 2026-02-04 00:30:03
>>iknows+(OP)
Solar roofs are much more practical to be honest.
replies(1): >>unders+Gi
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3. unders+Gi[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-02-04 02:30:09
>>Mobius+21
Putting solar roofs on a building? For a car company?
replies(4): >>Mobius+Yu >>mayoff+4C >>rsynno+LT >>kuschk+cU
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4. Mobius+Yu[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-02-04 04:25:30
>>unders+Gi
In comparison to datacenters in space yes. Solar roofs are already a profitable business, just not likely to be high growth. Datacenters in space are unlikely to ever make financial sense, and even if they did, they are very unlikely to show high growth due to continuing ongoing high capital expenses inherent in the model.
replies(1): >>ben_w+cD1
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5. mayoff+4C[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-02-04 05:40:00
>>unders+Gi
For an electrification company.
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6. rsynno+LT[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-02-04 08:17:52
>>unders+Gi
It's obviously a pretty weird thing for a car company to do, and is probably just a silly idea in general (it has little obvious benefit over normal solar panels, and is vastly more expensive and messy to install), but in principle it could at least work, FSOV work. The space datacenter thing is a nonsensical fantasy.
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7. kuschk+cU[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-02-04 08:21:10
>>unders+Gi
There's a synergy effect here - Tesla sells you a solar roof and car bundle, the roof comes without a battery (making it cheaper) and the car now gets a free recharge whenever you're home (making it cheaper in the long term).

Of course that didn't work out with this specific acquisition, but overall it's at least a somewhat reasonable idea.

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8. ben_w+cD1[view] [source] [discussion] 2026-02-04 13:53:52
>>Mobius+Yu
I think a better critique of space-based data centres is not that they never become high growth, it's just that when they do it implies the economy is radically different from the one we live in to the degree that all our current ideas about wealth and nations and ownership and morality and crime & punishment seem quaint and out-dated.

The "put 500 to 1000 TW/year of AI satellites into deep space" for example, that's as far ahead of the entire planet Earth today as the entire planet Earth today is from specifically just Europe right after the fall of Rome. Multiplicatively, not additively.

There's no reason to expect any current business (or nation, or any given asset) to survive that kind of transition intact.

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