Missouri town ousts half of its city council after $6 billion AI data center approval
- Thread starter midian182
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I can tell you with great certainty that there will be no data centers in space. This is another fantasy nonsense from the likes of Elon Musk. We'll have data centers in space right around the time Musk blasts off for his trip to Mars. (ie. never) Sure, they will try throwing some test "data centers" into space, but that's about it.
What people don't seem to get about space and space travel is that it's the harshest conditions out there that you can imagine. There's a lot of radiation for one thing, so you need to worry about that. Then there's the MASSIVE amount of electricity data centers need. People think it's easier to produce solar power in space compared to here, but that's not even true. You would need massive canvases in space, I mean many times larger than a football field. Then there's the problem of keeping a space data center cool. You would think that the freezing cold in space would help keep data centers cold, but that's not the case. Heat dissipates extremely slowly in the vacuum of space. Air is an excellent conductor of heat, so cooling CPUs/GPUs is much much easier on earth.
So my question is how are we putting data centers into space when we have to worry about radiation damaging the equipment (and I didn't even mention all the space debris and micro-meteorites out there), electricity needed that we can't generate, and the cooling needed which is horrible in the vacuum of space?
Learn'em what? Certainly not proper English.
Excuse my pessimism - but as an outsider looking in - I would float the idea that when the AI lobbyists were in town, doing their (ahem) "lobbying" then it wouldn't have mattered a jot which side of the political spectrum was running the show in town... The data centre would have been approved.
Oh dear me.....I seem to have such a low opinion of politicians.
Oh dear me.....I seem to have such a low opinion of politicians.
Endymio
Posts: 5,331 +4,939
From someone who actually understands science and technology, I can tell you there will be many, within just a few years. It's not just Musk. A dozen other companies and nations are already starting space-based data centers. This CNN article lists some of them:
https://www.cnn.com/science/data-centers-in-space-spc
Not even remotely correct. In space, the solar flux is more concentrated and available 24x7 with no night nor clouds to block it. Solar arrays can be made far larger and more cheaply in the absence of gravity, and they can more easily be adjusted to the optimum incidence angle. And the "harsh conditions of space" are nothing compared to the dangers to terrestrial solar panels from hurricanes, lightning, hail storms, or high winds.
Note: the AO7 solar-powered satellite (launched in 1974) is still in operation today.
So? The point is that those arrays need be substantially smaller in space than they would to power the same data center here on earth. And in zero-G, large arrays don't need the structural strength that earth-bound ones do.
Very wrong. The last time I did the calculation, I found that a simple two-stage NH3 cooling loop operating at 250C can dissipate several megawatts using radiators not much larger than those already on the ISS.
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I think you’re using your LLM wrong, mate. Because you’re wrong.
Plutoisaplanet
Posts: 1,914 +2,584
I'm sorry but just because you don't like Elon Musk, it doesn't mean you have "great certainty". So what happened to the "fantasy" of self-landing rockets that literally multiply their profit? That has become a moat (90% market dominance). What did it solve? Fixed costs.
The significant problem data centers have been facing is regulation and government prevention of them. These are fixed, growing costs whereas hardware and launches can be reduced (the opposite). Besides, you now literally have a several thousand satellite proof of concept with the same profitability as telecoms and ISPs in cities. Do you really think these run a small amount of compute or electricity or generate low heat? Starlink was supposed to be a fantasy too but now has 10 million customers (and growing fast).
Guess how they did it? Decreasing costs of launches and hardware production. This downward cost trend hasn't stopped either, despite people who mistake Starship prototypes for failures.
Wait until you Google the top 10 states with the most data centers in them currently.
Won’t support your statement very well.
I get 6 Rep (and 4 of the top 5) and 4 Dem. Agree?
Rocky4040
Posts: 251 +323
The problem is they are not speaking on behalf of the community they are wanting to stuff their wallets with nice shiny money and that is the only reason they want this. They do not care what happens to the people they are supposed to be serving that voted them in. In states like California, they seem to have a hive mind set and will support whatever the Slop the media tells them is good or bad. Example AI good you must support it because it good and of course blind mice follow like good little trained seals.
Orange man bad...lol Maybe he is maybe not but I sure am not going to let the media make up my mind one way or the other.
what do you think Dems are doing , I am glad I live in a Red State
Gravitytr1
Posts: 230 +138
Just ignore the repub/demo ppl. It's 2026 and these bots still think their red vs blue game works on ppl. It's just red herrings to distract from the subject matter, in this case a democracy that works when the ppl unite.
agentnate009
Posts: 36 +28
Incorrect, you are misrepresenting the data of PLANNED versus already constructed and operational.
agentnate009
Posts: 36 +28
I did, and you are still wrong.
Squid Surprise
Posts: 7,928 +8,214
Feel free to present some evidence that you are correct then…
Endymio
Posts: 5,331 +4,939
I am not. You failed to read the article; it gives figures for both planned vs. operational. If we subtract out those not fully operational, all that happens is Florida supplants the swing state of Georgia.
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