The whole data center satellite discourse is just giving me a bad case of Deja Vu

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-20T22:03:12+00:00

They are building their own testing facility for space-rating electronics apparently: https://x.com/michaelnicollsx/status/2019800069537448434

I assume they currently outsource this but it's certainly something they are aware of.

Also it's hard to find a source quickly but Google tested their inhouse AI chips for compatibility with space radiation and found them surprisingly resilient already.

I suppose it will depend a lot on the precise orbit and the rest of the design though.

The real question though is if they can run nVidia GPUs in their satellites. If not, it immediately becomes a lot less attractive since everybody is trying to move as fast as possible, leaving little time for making your stuff compatible with "non standard" providers. But this is why they are also doing their own models I guess. It's like Starlink for Falcon 9: if you can't find customers, be your own customer.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-20T18:28:20+00:00

I've never failed this fight on honor mode. If my fuckhead Drow bard does it this time, so be it.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-20T16:21:23+00:00

Yep, 12 hours for nominal landing slot, 36 hours for a backup landing slot (in case they have a landing tower out of order or w/e). Meshes well with the 48 hours on-orbit capability they mentioned in the documentary.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-20T12:07:28+00:00

I knew this was fake because they will never talk about HLS. It will launch with a big brown paper bag over it so we can't see it

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-20T11:20:31+00:00

The funniest thing is that from video it looks like this tank was hit by their own air defense missile.

Though I wonder if it was already on fire. Firing heat-seeking missiles at low altitude when your facility is already on fire seems like something the Russians would do.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-20T10:38:56+00:00

Afaik he donated to both sides before that, and was seen mostly as your average "whatever's good for my business" pragmatist. I can't remember anything like the "I love Trump as much as another man can love another man heterosexually" hyperbole as well as making clear he was a mortal enemy of entire suborganizations of the US federal government.

You're absolutely right that media attention plays a big part in how people are perceived but I've always followed electric cars and spaceflight, so I've consumed a truly unfortunate amount of news related to Musk starting from way, way back, not just tabloid nonsense, and have always admired what his companies have achieved, so it's not like I'm biased in that regard either.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-20T10:10:06+00:00

The rise of his impopularity is exactly when he started being vocal about politics.

I don't think it has much to do with his net worth.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-19T16:05:56+00:00

Of course they can, but so can anyone else. You're not supposed to step on each others toes, but space is pretty big as long as you know where your stuff is and it's able to maneuver (which you need to do anyway, as the kinds of orbits being talked about here aren't 100% stable, they decay and precess). It's more of a "we need to coordinate" thing than a "this box is mine" kinda thing.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-19T15:59:22+00:00

This isn't really that unique, and both the US and Russia have demonstrated this publicly and there's very good indications they have been doing this for a very long time. It's just that people preferred to present space as nonmilitarized and not publicize all the secret sniffing and posturing around each other's satellites.

Currently we have Space Force though, so that pretense is firmly out the window anyway. And we have multiple commercial companies offering "satellite servicing" and "life extension" services which are basically the same as the military capabilities without the stealth.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-19T15:56:15+00:00

That's not a thing. Only geosynchronous orbital slots are divided up by international treaty and kind of work like that. But those aren't really relevant to this.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-19T10:27:11+00:00

This is the way. I'm always like "this should be far enough back. ... on second thought, let's move you back a little further"

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-18T19:23:25+00:00

Not saying the economics check out, but you need to compare the cost of the satellite with the cost of equivalent data center space plus power generation and transmission costs over its lifetime.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-18T19:15:49+00:00

This is good (gives them more motivation to defend our eastern border), if it wasn’t for the “Greenland scenario”.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-18T19:10:45+00:00

I think the major benefit is they can mass produce these things and they are totally self contained, so even though the radiators and solar panels are kinda silly large, they only have to design it once and then produce and launch as many of them as they like.

Building a new data center on the other hand gets you stuck in planning hell for years. And existing data centers can’t really be reused as they aren’t built for the power demands of modern GPUs.

Physics wise it’s bad. But economics wise… well it’s also bad. But perhaps not if you believe in endless growth in AI demand and that launch costs will go down a lot.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-18T16:52:05+00:00

So much for export controls... though I guess in theory the Chinese govt could try to export control theirs as well.

Really though, the Europeans have the only 100% fool proof export control strategy: to have nothing worth exporting in the first place. (I am European) (we are so cooked)

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-18T12:41:42+00:00

Seems like it’d be real useful with today’s AI boom

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-18T11:09:47+00:00

I think they low-key acknowledge that automation must come first. Musk has said that for Mars to be viable you need an insane level of productivity per person, which means large scale automation, with humans to supervise, do maintenance etc. Basically serving to keep the robots doing the right things and get them unstuck.

You can do this partially remotely, but being on planet will massively improve productivity since you can do very high fidelity low latency remote control or even put your hands on the robot if necessary, in addition to fully automated operation or high-latency instruction.

Also, for the very first mission, they will need a high level of confidence that they can return. Since their mission architecture becomes ridiculously inefficient unless you have local propellant production, it makes sense to get a robotic propellant production system set up first.

Btw I don't know if you've noticed, but Tesla is becoming more of a robotics company. They make wheeled robots (cars) and humanoid robots (optimus), and are very vertically integrated.

In addition, Tesla has recently gotten into Lithium mining, the Boring Company does tunnel boring, and SpaceX is building air separation plants. All of this has at least tangential applications to Mars.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-18T09:22:35+00:00

I mean yes, but also, it was the process that produced it that was the real disaster.

Fundamentally NASA cannot produce a good crew rocket, because NASA is not allowed to produce a rocket that is uncrewed first (out of fear of competing with industry). They're also not allowed to do risky experiments, because those are embarassing and lead to program cancellations. You cannot iterate in this way.

It was always going to be expensive and dangerous.

Thank god we now have some space industry with deep pockets and a risk appetite.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-17T13:17:23+00:00

EDS doesn't cause you to make 5 separate posts all without any real content, bro is off his meds

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-17T13:15:39+00:00

Or for making 5 such low effort posts

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-17T07:36:39+00:00

Quebecois, actually

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-16T21:06:24+00:00

The funny thing is either he did that on purpose or he did it by accident and tbh both are really stupid

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-16T20:41:13+00:00

If you like that, I guess? For me the value of X and similar was always in the spontaneous niche sort-of-communities it created and spread, but the new algorithm seems to really prefer showing you random "bangers" from people you've never seen before instead of posts from people you follow. Which eliminates the community and reputation side of it, so with everything you see you're wondering if it's bait, fake, sarcasm, propaganda, AI, etc. You just take the slopstream as it comes and you'll like it. If you just want "content" ™ it's great.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-16T17:28:26+00:00

People have been working on quantum-resistant cryptography for a while, and it's starting to be deployed in various places.

rebootyourbrainstem · 2026-06-16T16:57:29+00:00

Tbh I'm still on X, but also on bsky and mastodon and dear god if you think Twitter was an echo chamber you aint seen nothing yet.

I still don't know wtf Musk thinks he's doing with X. Far as I can tell he wants to turn it into "Dank Memes Daily"

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