Orbital data centers, part 1: There’s no way this is economically viable, right?
arstechnica.com
This is not physically impossible; it’s only a question of whether this is a rational thing."
  • teft@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Take every other problem away.

    These satellites will be hundreds to thousands of meters apart in orbit. Why would anyone want to introduce transmission lag into their datacenters?

    • burble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Underrated complaint. The comparison of each satellite being equivalent to a server rack or two only goes so far. The lag between them seems annoying even if it’s an optical link.

      I’m hoping all this development money at least makes edge compute cheaper, faster, and better for satellites collecting a ton of data, like imaging ones, because I’m really not convinced by the constellations.

  • SubArcticTundra@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Surely wouldn’t a very fundamental problem be that vacuum is an insulator, hence providing the datacenter no way tk stop overheating?

  • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    The property that I’m not seeing being discussed is effective sovereignty. A satellite data center is hardware that no one can physically access without enormous effort and expense. That could put them literally above the law in various respects, impossible to audit or shut down without the encryption keys or use of advanced weapons. If they start doing something especially objectionable to the public, protesters can’t do anything to hinder their operation.