a day ago
- Space data centers face major cooling challenges because radiative cooling in vacuum is inefficient, requiring huge radiator surfaces.
- Solar power in orbit is abundant and cheap, but satellite components degrade over time (e.g., 2% power loss per decade).
- Satellites have a 5-6 year lifespan, but GPUs double in performance every two years, making them obsolete quickly.
- Repairing satellites in orbit is extremely expensive (~$100 million), so the disposable model (deorbit and replace) is more economical.
- Companies are marketing 'data centers in space' but are actually building disposable compute modules that are hard to service or upgrade.
- The economics rely on continuously falling launch costs (e.g., Starship target $33/lb), but cost plateaus and schedule delays pose risks.
- Overall, space data centers are currently impractical due to cooling, obsolescence, and uncertain financial returns.