When I hear space I think "that's the perfect location for a data center", since data centers are lightweight, small, require little power, don't need human intervention, have lifetimes measured in decades and don't have to reject heat. Since space easily satisfies these requirements, space is an ideal deployment location for data centers.

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bonsai_spool 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah... What am I missing? Like why isn't this just laughed at when it's proposed?

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jordanb 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I felt the same way about the "tube with an air hockey table in it." But here I am fifteen years later eating crow as I take the hyperloop to Vegas.

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debugnik 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Isn't the Vegas Loop just a car tunnel? As far as I know, there aren't any actual hyperloops[1] involved, just a narrow highway, even if they deceivingly brand it "Loop".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperloop

	▲	dgellow 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That’s the joke

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fc417fc802 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It seems off at first glance but actually appears to work out if you do the math. You can model a solar panel as a flat, opaque rectangle. You can calculate power generation and equilibrium temperature for it based on surface area. If you require additional radiative surface area to achieve the desired equilibrium temperature you can place a flat triangle orthogonal to and behind the solar panel in its shadow.

Compute is "free" at that point because waste heat is coming out of the total energy flux which was already accounted for (because we modeled it as opaque).

Of course swapping out the equipment poses a bit of a challenge. The "helping hands" rate is entirely unaffordable and wait until you see this new DC's physical access policies. 0/10 would not rack with them again.

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readthenotes1 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This may be one of the rare instances where the sarcasm is obvious without using the sarcasm font