AI datacenters in space do not have a cooling problem
3 hours ago
- Elon Musk proposes building AI datacenters in space, but the idea faces skepticism due to heat dissipation challenges in a vacuum.
- Cooling in space is possible via radiation, not conduction or convection, and requires large radiators (e.g., 250,000 sq m for a 100MW datacenter).
- While scaling up radiators (250x the ISS) is significant, it is feasible with hundreds of Starship launches, making cooling a minor issue compared to other logistics.
- Other major hurdles include power generation (solar panels), GPU replacement, and overall impracticality, but cooling itself is not a dealbreaker.