Waste heat from data centers can boost air temperatures in downwind neighborhoods by as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit, researchers at Arizona State University report in a new study conducted in the Phoenix metro area, the hottest in the U.S.
The issue with space-based data centres is dissipating that heat, though. The ISS radiators can dissipate less than 100kW and they are the largest in space today, IIRC. Current land-based data centres already generate 100s of MW of heat. US Datacentres alone already consume multiple TWh of electricity/year.
I’m all for space-based data centres. But I don’t believe anyone who says they’re coming soon. One small space data centre would be 10 ISSs—the largest space architecture project to date.
I think what people who are pooh-poohing on space data centres are concerned about isn’t the literal heat issue, but that it serves the same purpose as the “Hyperloop”: not a real practicality, but serves to focus lawmakers attention in a direction that ignores a practical issue (with Hyperloop it was away from California HSR, which now has its own problems, but at least it was feasible)
The issue with space-based data centres is dissipating that heat, though. The ISS radiators can dissipate less than 100kW and they are the largest in space today, IIRC. Current land-based data centres already generate 100s of MW of heat. US Datacentres alone already consume multiple TWh of electricity/year.
I’m all for space-based data centres. But I don’t believe anyone who says they’re coming soon. One small space data centre would be 10 ISSs—the largest space architecture project to date.
I think what people who are pooh-poohing on space data centres are concerned about isn’t the literal heat issue, but that it serves the same purpose as the “Hyperloop”: not a real practicality, but serves to focus lawmakers attention in a direction that ignores a practical issue (with Hyperloop it was away from California HSR, which now has its own problems, but at least it was feasible)