cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/24946971
TL;DW:
Does It Make Sense To Put Data Centers In Space?
At some point in the future, yes.
Can They Really Cost Less To Operate?
In theory, yes.
Scott expresses concerns that current startups have not adequately addressed some of the practical challenges, such as cooling.
I’m not sure how that’s even an advantage, unless there is some scenario where you want the data center to continue after the end of civilization. Providing reliable power on Earth already has known solutions and much much cheaper
I suppose you want some sort of caching proxies to make the internet somewhat useable from any bases farther out than low orbit but even then it would be much cheaper and easier to host them at those bases.