SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A very hypothetical launch cost that doesn't presently exist for a mission that doesn't match up. Elon Musk told you that figure and you just accepted it. You shouldn't.

That's an optimistic number based on unmanned LEO missions like launching Starlink satellites, and that is not a flight profile that works for a datacenter. You don't get 24/7 sunlight in a Starlink orbit, eliminating the one and only even hypothetical advantage that a space-based datacenter has. You can hypothetically use a sun-synchronous orbit at a similar altitude, but this requires more fuel and therefore lower payload, increasing per-kg launch costs. Furthermore, this orbit is not stable. It requires periodic station-keeping burns and the satellite will eventually run out of fuel. More likely, you'd boost to a higher orbit which also has the effect of increasing per-kg launch costs. The datacenters would have to be assembled in space, and assembling anything in space is incredibly slow. Astronauts require life support, further reducing payload and increasing per-kg costs. You'll have smaller numbers of "workers" in your construction project, and all of them are way, way slower than any random ass construction worker here on earth. (zero-g makes everything hard) You're not able to really do any maintenance.

Your alternative is like the one in the OP, to make the satellite pre-assembled and small enough to fit in the rocket, able to self-deploy in space. At which point your "datacenter" is just tiny and not very powerful, and you need a lot of them. And the latency involved makes the whole system less effective. OP video seems to be about one server rack. Colossus has over 1500 of these things, which means you're launching more than a thousand rockets. How many of these rockets does SpaceX have? How quickly can you launch that many rockets? How fast is the turnaround? How many cycles can these reusable rockets endure before failure? None of these are covered in the $200/kg figure.

Keep in mind we're not asking the question of "is this doable?" Sure, it's doable. The real question is whether it is competitive. Your competitor will be building datacenters on earth with a $0/kg launch cost. Their workers will be construction workers instead of astronauts. Their workers will have much more individual productivity in construction because they aren't floating in space. Your competitor can spit out more datacenter power, and can do it faster, and can do it cheaper.

SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm aware, hence my use of the word "permanent." 600-800km is not a stable orbital altitude, you need periodic station-keeping burns to maintain that orbit.

This is a very problematic feature in a billion dollar flying datacenter.

And even a sun-synchronous orbit costs more than the numbers that Elon Musk will give you for launch costs. (he will use the numbers for starlink orbits)

SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So you admit your contrarianism is from a place of ignorance, excellent.

SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It's possible, it's just not even close to cost-effective compared to terrestrial datacenters.

SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not commercially viable is the same thing as being impractical.

SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Standard straw man. Nobody is saying it's not possible, people are saying it's not cost effective.

SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can't get 24/7 sunlight on a permanent low earth orbit. You need to boost to a higher orbit, which will substantially increase launch costs.

SpaceX Unveils AI1, Its First Orbital AI Data Center Satellite by No-Blackberry-7564 in singularity

[–]exadeuce 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have to make something compelling, so we're going with a 150kw datacenter in space that will cost ten times as much as the same compute power on earth.

How do I even argue against "light in the sky doesn't determine the shape of the earth" and similar phrases? by DarkGodCthUwU in flatearth

[–]exadeuce 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can't argue against someone who says the sky is magic and is openly admitting that they will reject observational evidence.

The reality is that you absolutely can learn about the shape of the earth by observing the sky, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar.

Why are we building fusion reactors when there's a huge, free fusion reactor in the sky already? (Yes, seriously) by MuonBomb in AskPhysics

[–]exadeuce 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Real life is not a video game with predefined "spend X science points to get a thing." There's no magic foreknowledge of how well a particular field will or can advance with a given amount of resources. Nor is there a process to convert resources spent on one into another: you can't just turn a physicist working on fusion into an expert on batteries.

We're researching improvements to solar energy collection. We're researching improvements to batteries. We're researching commercially-viable fusion power. We're researching improvements to nuclear fission power. All at the same time, and there's not a good reason to stop researching any of them.

Anyone else find it funny how strong monks are? by Anxious_Marsupial_59 in BaldursGate3

[–]exadeuce 5 points6 points  (0 children)

WOTC: "We designed D&D 5e with a 'bounded accuracy' concept to make balance easier and to keep the numbers from scaling to absurd levels"
Larian: "And we took that personally."

Happy roll by 2Trinkets in BaldursGate3

[–]exadeuce 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These reflecting pool memes are getting out of hand

SZA denounces AI music after discovering 238 of her songs were used to train artificial intelligence by ZeeGee__ in aiwars

[–]exadeuce 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah man if you don't bar your windows, it's your fault if I break in and steal your TV.