Does It Make Sense To Put Data Centers In Space? Can They Really Cost Less To Operate?
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Lumen Orbit raised 2.4 million dollars from investors based on the notion of putting data centers in space, computers that could be used to train AI, or mayb...

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/24946971

TL;DW:

Does It Make Sense To Put Data Centers In Space?

At some point in the future, yes.

Can They Really Cost Less To Operate?

In theory, yes.

Scott expresses concerns that current startups have not adequately addressed some of the practical challenges, such as cooling.

  • vrt3@feddit.nlEnglish
    9·
    9 days ago

    Up there the sun always shines (assuming a convenient sun synchronous orbit), so you have access to uninterrupted solar power. That’s the only advantage I can think of. You’re going to need a lot of solar panels though, and even more radiators to radiate all the heat away. And a number of other disadvantages.

    • Alexstarfire@lemmy.world
      2·
      9 days ago

      Considering some data centers basically need a power plant to run, the amount of solar panels needed would be insane. Plus, unless you keep the data center between the planet and the sun, you still have shade.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
      1·
      8 days ago

      I’m not sure how that’s even an advantage, unless there is some scenario where you want the data center to continue after the end of civilization. Providing reliable power on Earth already has known solutions and much much cheaper

      I suppose you want some sort of caching proxies to make the internet somewhat useable from any bases farther out than low orbit but even then it would be much cheaper and easier to host them at those bases.