If they build a data center on land and an identical one floating on the ocean, what is the difference in how much heat they emit when I throw thermite grenades at them?
They solve a couple issues but introduce a host of others.
If you focus on the couple issues solved, you’re obviously biased.
My favorite one was Musk gave.
So he said that the supply of a particular natural gas turbine part was constrained through 2030. Therefore, obviously, the simplest fix is to have thousands of starship launches with ISS-sized payloads and all the attendant crap.
Musk definitely has zero understanding of Kessler Syndrome; one of many drops in a bucket of evidence that he’s not the genius his PR team wants us to think he is.
I’m far more concerned with the suggested floating datacenters. Just dumping more waste heat into the ocean. WCGW.
You wildly underestimate the size of the oceans. If they’re going to be built anyway, and if they can have a long lifespan even in salt water, this would be far better for the environment than the currently popular method of using rivers for cooling - rivers can be warmed by perceptible and significant amounts until they carry that extra heat into the oceans, plus fresh water is more rare, precious, and in need of protection than salt water.
If the heat made by the data centers can warm rivers, and those rivers can warm the oceans… Aren’t the data centers already warming the oceans? Which would mean that putting data centers directly in the ocean would definitely warm the oceans?
Temperature is what matters. The same amount of heat out into a river can significantly warm the whole river downstream, but have no detectable effect on the ocean temperature, just because the heat is diluted so much.
Like, dilute a bottle of tequila with two liters of cola, sure you’ll get drunk - but pour that same tequila into a full swimming pool, and you’d never get drunk even if you drink the pool water all day.
You understand rivers largely empty into oceans, right? Your tequila analogy leaves that part out. Eventually, you’re still dumping tequila (heat) into the pool (ocean).
That space data center might end up dumping more waste into the oceans with all thise launches but certainly more into our atmosphere.
Why don’t you want to launch the equivalent of a data center in low earth orbit satellites just to have them rain back down every decade or so?
We could be launching solar panels into space that beam down radiation to make power more plentiful and cheap, but nah we but a complex data center that needs maintenance and complex parts
About half of solar energy passes through the atmosphere, that factor of two isn’t a good enough reason to use space-based solar panels for ground-based power grids.
Even though the microwave receiver power station in SimCity 2000 looked so cool.
I think its a great idea. A bunch of these tech billionaires should go up on the SpaceGate Titan to survey their plots!
Incredibly bad, too lenghty, mostly irrelevant criticisms of the fraud of space datacenters, followed up by the Skynet military justification of being unable to unplug skynet.
Space datacenters from SpaceX are a fraud because they have a 5 year lifecycle with deorbiting of entire unit. The costs compared to 30 year lifecycle of terrestrial solar/battery powered datacenter energy is thus 6x higher (costs of shell/shield, solar, radiators is about the same but 6 replacements). Terrestrial building costs are $20/watt. SpaceX ambitions are to get $30m/launch costs. To be only 2x the terrestrial costs, launch costs need to be $1m (just the fuel costs) with deorbit being to fly off into space instead of a salvage trip.
At 12x the costs, the competitive GPU rental hurdle has to be 12x more expensive than earth. Only military skynet applications would pay for this, and specifically, only permit mechahitler to decide if skynet is doing a good job.
Or the need to pump a stock to rubes
Seems to me that maintenance would be significant.
Maybe but also maybe they would hire my uncle and then he could go to space which would be pretty cool.
And yet the IPO of SpaceX was justified with the presumed future success of its space-based data center program.
LOL LOL you CANNOT cool something like that in space. The entire concept is flawed.
It’s literally just taking the piss out of idiotic investors. Data Centers, AI, space, new frontier, new markets. It checks all the boxes to get idiots excited to dump money into your tech company so people keep talking about it because talking about it is what gets results. Hopefully nobody is dumb enough to actually try it, it’s an absolute scam.
I mean, space construction companies are happy to try it.
If Bezos keeps giving them money, who are they to say no? It may not even all be a waste in the long run, as it could be a “testing ground” for future scientific missions.
Yea honestly, orbital data centers are the dumbest shit I’ve heard during this bubble, and a huge indication of peak bubble hype.
The bubble is like this at this point:
Are there actually people who think this is a good idea that are not in a position to make money off it?
It’s technically possible that all the starlink satellites have some arm socs. But the case only makes economic sense if the demand for compute outstrips zoning permit for data centers.
Yes. All the retail investors in SpaceX that will be left to hold the bag.
My aunt and uncle are Elon fans (yes, even after his fucking Nazi salute) and have said orbital data centers are a good idea.
They have money, and my uncle is usually pretty smart, so I’m not sure what the fuck is happening.
I know what’s happening! Your aunt and uncle are racist dumbasses.
I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t know your aunt and uncle, but I would generally assume in Nazi situations that “even after” probably means “particularly after” even if they don’t admit it.
Very useless and expensive idea.
