Re:Data centers in space makes no sense
by habinero on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @07:41AM
(#46885151)
No, they didn't. You can't "send away" thermal energy via radio waves. At the temperatures we're talking about, thermal energy is in the infrared. That's blackbody radiation.
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Re:Data centers in space makes no sense
by mortehu on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @08:25AM
(#46885556)
Your answer makes it seem like you too missed the point. If a Starlink sends a 1000W signal to Earth, that is 1000W of power that does not heat the satellite.
No YOU missed the point.
The creation of that 1000W requires additional hardware and power, and only a part will be available for the transmission. The rest will be additional heat that has to be gotten rid of.
Re:Data centers in space makes no sense
by adrian_b on Wednesday February 04, 2026 @10:01AM
(#46886630)
You missed the point.
Nobody describes a satellite by specifying the amount of heat that it produces, but by the amount of electrical energy that it consumes.
In a communication satellite, a large fraction of the consumed electrical energy goes into the radio transmitter. Radio transmitters are very efficient and most of the consumed power is emitted as radio waves and only a very small part is converted into heat, which must be handled by the cooling system.
So in any communication satellite, a significant fraction of the consumed energy does not become heat.