> Now, input power. Sunlight in orbit ~1,360 W/m², assume ~22% cell efficiency, we got 300 W/m². So each 1 MW compute, 3,300 m² of solar panel and minimum 1,200–1,500 m² of radiator.

We need > 2x more solar panels than we need radiators. Doesn't this imply radiation isn't really the limiting factor here?

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snovv_crash 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Getting the energy back from the solar panel is easy via copper cables. Getting the heat back out there to the radiators is a bit harder, you needed fluids and pumps and heat exchangers which have lots of moving parts and need maintenance.

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alexnewman 7 hours ago | parent [-]

This has all been covered over and over again. It’s actually not that big of a deal

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datadrivenangel 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Doing it in a cost and weight effective way is still a big deal, because if it's not within ~10x the cost of ground based data centers, not enough people will use it to justify building it.

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scottyah 5 hours ago | parent [-]

...but they are already building it.

	▲	jasonwatkinspdx 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Ah yes, the same way they built us all solar roof tiles.

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rayiner 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]