Re:Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
by wat10000 on Saturday November 29, 2025 @11:41PM
(#46093807)
How much power would a square meter at 1400C shed from convection?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
by baobrien on Sunday November 30, 2025 @12:31AM
(#46094100)
Not much in space; There's almost no matter to convect!
Re:Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
by fsh on Sunday November 30, 2025 @02:06AM
(#46094506)
A sports car radiator has about that size and dumps 1 MW without boiling the coolant.
Re:Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
by alextingle on Sunday November 30, 2025 @02:54AM
(#46094727)
A car's "radiator" doesn't actually lose heat by radiation though. It conducts heat to the air rushing through it. That's absolutely nothing like a radiator in a vacuum.
Re:Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
by fsh on Sunday November 30, 2025 @03:53AM
(#46095008)
That's the point. Forced air cooling is way more efficient than radiative cooling.
Re:Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
by tsimionescu on Sunday November 30, 2025 @08:50AM
(#46096629)
The question was about comparing the 1400KW of radiative cooling to how much convective coolig you could get from the same radiator on Earth.
Re:Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea
by MadnessASAP on Sunday November 30, 2025 @02:48AM
(#46094696)
I dont have firm numbers for you since it would depend on environmental conditions. As an educated guess though, I would say a fucking shit ton. You wouldn't want to be anywhere near the damn thing.