this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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Orbital datacenters subject to space weather, debris, stress (www.theregister.com)
submitted 6 days ago by Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world to c/hardware@lemmy.world
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[–] theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world 18 points 6 days ago (2 children)

There literally is not one single benefit to putting a data center in space. Every single aspect is harder or worse than on Earth, plus brand new challenges that you'd never need to deal with on Earth.

free power from the sun and cooling using the emptiness of space

Lol no and no. Emptiness is insulating, not cooling. That's why you use a vacuum thermos to keep your food hot. If you need to be in sunlight to generate solar power, then cooling is going to be a huge problem. Generating energy is not free, its also a huge problem. The ISS has solar panels the size of half a football field and does not use nearly the power a datacenter uses.

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Does anyone do space datacenters already (aside from the guys who want to put one on the moon)? Because MS stopped with sunk dc for the same reasons; can't easily fix/upgrade stuff.

[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 days ago

Pips are still eyeing quadrocopters as a viable option for everything. Pitchers of said ideas are only there for money and visibility that they get anyway. I'm impressed that door-to-door sellers are now the meta pick in this life.exe

[–] Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The article is correct in stating that the orbital data centre concept works well for an 80s cyberpunk novel, but it's almost comically inefficient in reality.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 10 points 6 days ago

Have it orbit closer to earth and have it emit fog to create a cloud around it so when we say we stored it on the cloud, it's literal.

[–] LostXOR@fedia.io 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Orbital datacenters sound like the answer to "what is the absolute worst place it is theoretically possible to build a datacenter?"

[–] Alphane_Moon@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

This has got to be some sort of new venture grift.

[–] sad_detective_man@leminal.space 6 points 6 days ago

more bullshit in the atmosphere , I NNEEED it. nobody can get my dirty data if it's in orbit. no taxes, no oversight, just a Dyson sphere of traaaash 😩

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

We need to use those rocket ships from Moonraker with the pop top, to clean up space.