Re:Economics of Orbital vs. Terrestrial Data Centers
by wmf on Monday December 15, 2025 @07:04PM
(#46282849)
So the guy who shows his work says 3.4x and the guy who doesn't says 50-100x.
Re:Economics of Orbital vs. Terrestrial Data Centers
by enderfusion on Tuesday December 16, 2025 @12:25AM
(#46285095)
OP here.
man who quotes big number - often made a fool
"Datacenters in space" make for a catchy narrative and an interesting demo, but the math simply doesn't work.
When considering factors like launch cost, maintenance complexity, and the cost of high-bandwidth communications (latency included), there is no realistic set of economic and engineering assumptions under which orbiting datacenters become cost-competitive with simply building conventional nuclear-powered (or renewable energy-powered) datacenters on the ground.
In fact we're off by 50-100x. Dramatic launch cost reductions still won't make it work. And of course if you invest a lot in specific lines of tech to make it work you then have to consider that the same can also be invested in better ground-based nuclear, bringing the cost of power down for everyone.