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@davidgerard one word, "convection".

@davidgerard

I was expecting the cooling problem. The most overlooked of all: it's hard to cool things in space. Never mind the power problem.

Instead of putting data centers in space, work towards extremely low-power analog computing, with graded voltage rather than the energy-wasteful binary.

@davidgerard nice writeup! One additional point:

"space based datacenters [...] would be so expensive that they would have to fly for a long time in order to be economically viable”

That's not how GPUs work. Anything you shoot up there would be outdated within max. 2 years. Same in terrestrial data centers. The buildings and racks will last, but the GPUs will be written off within a very short time. Nobody wants to spend gigawatts powering a slug.

@davidgerard It would have been nice if it were a good idea. Use the power where it is generated. And deorbiting data is relatively easy.
Shame about all the details that a 15 minute search could have hinted at. And are neatly laid out in this article. Including the fact that it’s not even easy to get the data down.

@davidgerard Not specifically about DCs in space, but imagine if that were the case here: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/facebook-blames-major-outage-on-maintenance-work-effectively-disconnecting-facebook-data-centers-globally/

@davidgerard I've not understood why I have to write an essay about why datacenters in space are a bad idea. I mean, it should be pretty f*cking obvious, shouldn't it?

@davidgerard
Have we just accidentally bypassed the "brilliant"idea of data centers under the world's oceans?

@davidgerard their true move is to say later, space have no country so we do anything we want with the data.

It's a move to bypass law and tax, nothing technical in it.

@davidgerard
"Thermodynamics? We dont need them." - some orbit bro

@davidgerard reminds me of the mirrors in space idea, which is also a terrible idea.

@davidgerard The goal is to remove their pet god hosting facilities from the risks of heretics turning up with torches and pitchforks.

Sadly for them, humans have developed the anti-satellite pitchfork which rides on a torch.

@davidgerard
If all the tecnobros are launched to space along the first datacenter, I'm all in for it.

@davidgerard

I had a reporter for Scientific American ask me about claims of putting data centers in space.

I recommended simply quoting @sundogplanets .

@davidgerard

Well, now…..

If we can require them to go really into space like Mars or some planet orbiting Betelgeuse or something…
**and ** we require/encourage their CEOs, investors, and corporate henchman to go with them?

No laws!! No taxes!!! Come to Viltvodle VI!!!

The Golgafrinchams had the right idea they just sent the wrong people. 🤷🏻‍♀️

https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Golgafrinchans

@davidgerard I haven’t seen a writeup on it, but the obvious problem is that you have to get all of this solar capacity and heat sinking capacity into space in the first place. That’s a *LOT* of mass! And boosting mass is insanely resource-intensive, as explained by the rocket equation.

@davidgerard Now Data Center OWNERS in space COULD be a thing.......

@davidgerard These people in power are fucking stupid. And the monkeys who believe everythig they say because of their net worth are the cause, but we can’t really blame them for not knowing better.

But the absolute idiots who nowadays hold power and roleplay as physicists are absolutely responsible.

@davidgerard Datacenters in space is key jangling to try and distract people from datacenters spreading like a cancer on earth. Concerned about water, heat and pollution? Seen your energy bills rise because of the new datacenter in your city? Don't worry, the AI companies have heard you, they'll be in space soon and you won't need to worry!

@davidgerard Yehbut...

Either (a) it works, and they stop drawing terrestrial power and water away from people who need them (reviving the fossil fuel balrog in the process) and generating additional globe-warming heat, or (b) it fails, which means AI investors have spent billions of dollars for nothing, which would be terrible because then they might get soured on AI investment (or even -- all digits crossed -- on trying to bring capitalism to space (I mean, a girl can dream, yeah?)).

@davidgerard Without even reading it, my comment would be that all of the tech they send into orbit would be obsolete in a few years. What a waste. This is just a revenue stream for kleptobillionaires.

@davidgerard@circumstances.run ah yes, the space industries foundational issue of not being computers.

Capitalist approaches to space need it to be a resource that can be "captured" and "owned". Your margin comes from being the person who owns and utilises a parcel of it - this is the same line of reasoning that gives you space drug manufacturers. But the hard constraints on the use of outer space are mostly things like cost (capex becomes opex when satellites have a finite lifetime and can't be repaired/upgraded/improved easily) and collision risks, which are their own nightmarish economic box of tricks.

We have invented ways for people to need more and more computer every year. Space data centers are an attempt to bring that spiralling model to the space industry, without the understanding of why people need more and more computer every year and how those additional chips end up being absorbed into our lives. Fixed-capacity 10 year datacenters that take an additional 5-10 years either side for build-out, launch, disposal, and downtime can't fit into the terrestrial datacenter economic model.

source: I am a former economic/data analyst in the space industry who went back to just making the spacecraft.