“We are taking our first step in '27,” he said. “We’ll send tiny, tiny racks of machines, and have them in satellites, test them out, and then start scaling from there.” In a decade, Pichai said that it’ll be normal to build extraterrestrial data centers.
Aside from lift costs piled on costs (what about maintenance?) the major problem I see is heat dissipation. There was a thread recently about major cooling issues in New Mexico. I’ve read enough science fiction to know that space acts as a giant vacuum thermos.
You are correct. One of the problems with people in space is that we generate heat, and there’s no place for the heat to go. A lot of the spacesuits are for cooling.
Also, drives have to be replaced regularly. Seems that would be impossible in space.
And then there are bits of space debris; some we put up there, and just natural rocks and particles. With no atmosphere to protect the electronics, a single hit could result in a module going down (and how do you replace it?).
I get wanting to maximize solar power, but I think the downsides outweigh that benefit.
Evaporation produces cooling. Letting anything you have in abundance evaporate in the vacuum of space should give plenty of cooling. Water is cheap but not abundant in space. How about liquid nitrogen or dry ice. Presumably you would carry a supply of light weight coolant.
As to repair, replacement w new satellite night be most practical.
Yes. But it is the least efficient mode of transport. Conduction and convection are far superior. But neither are possible in space. If something stops generating heat in space, it eventually will cool off (assuming it’s not baking in our sun).
Conduction. Happens when molecules collide with other molecules, transferring kinetic energy from the higher to the lower. Can’t happen in a vacuum.
Convection. Also can’t happen in a vacuum.
Radiation. This can happen in a vacuum as you mentioned. We all know from personal experience that a desert swings from hot during the day to cold at night because the earth absorbs radiation during the day and re-emits it at night. I’m sure that the space-based computer centers will be designed with efficient radiators that will emit heat radiation into the infinite heat-sink of the universe. The design would be a sheet of solar collectors, a shield (similar to the James Webb space telescope) and a set of heat radiators on the shielded side.
Others mentioned evaporation which is a phase change that removes heat. That’s not practical for outer space due to the limitation of carrying the substance to be evaporated.
The loopiest idea yet, probably up there with “kitty litter by email” of the 1990’s.
Maintenance? Solar flares? Latency? Cost, as compared with, say, land in Nevada?
We will look back at some of these AI predictions with the same fondness that we recall “end the of bricks and mortar” or “profits don’t matter” or “the internet will extend knowledge and peace and eliminate strife”.
