SpaceX's plan: Put all the data centers in space, then profit

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Well, it does, but only by radiation

The advantage of big solar panels collecting the energy is that they give you a big shadow where you can put the radiators to radiate out the heat. See, for instance, the cooling radiators that circulate ammonia on the ISS:



But this is more weight to send up, so it may make it uneconomic. I personally think the fundamental problem will be that you can't repair or replace any part, without an astronaut (which the ISS has, of course). So once one thing fails - or the hardware becomes out of date - the whole thing is redundant. With a data centre on Earth, you just replace or upgrade parts when you want.