[Starlink] [E-impact] DataCenters in Space (was Re: fiber IXPs in space)

Thu Apr 20 08:51:31 EDT 2023

Sorry for the typo. The link to the white paper is
https://go.avalanche-technology.com/datacenters-in-space-whitepaper

Hesham

On Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 5:50 AM Hesham ElBakoury <helbakoury at gmail.com> wrote:

> There is a white paper on DC in space:
> https://go.avalanchetechnology.com/datacenters-in-space-whitepaper
>
> Hesham
>
> On Thu, Apr 20, 2023, 2:32 AM Chris Adams <chris at thegreenwebfoundation.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi folks,
>>
>> Is there a link to the underlying assumptions in for this "data centres
>> in space” story or the report?
>>
>> The press release mentioned *solar powerplants generating several
>> hundred megawatts*. That would require a *massive* amount of solar!
>>
>> For context, this list here shows the largest solar plants in the US, as
>> of June 2021:
>>
>> https://list.solar/plants/largest-plants/solar-plants-usa/
>>
>> Even the smallest one, kicking out 200 Megawatts has a surface areas of
>> 5.1 square kilometers, and it only goes upward from there.
>>
>> For this to be plausible, you’d need panels to be orders of magnitude
>> more efficient than they are on land when in space, even before you think
>> about how heavy it would be get multiple square kilometres of solar panel
>> into orbit.
>>
>> C
>>
>>
>>
>> Chris Adams
>>
>> Executive Director
>>
>> w: thegreenwebfoundation.org
>> e: chris at thegreenwebfoundation.org
>> t: @mrchrisadams
>>
>> German Office
>> Naunynstrasse 40
>> 10999 Berlin
>> Germany
>>
>> See our contact page for more details
>> https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/contact/
>>
>> Book a short call with me to discuss something.
>> https://cal.com/mrchrisadams
>> Chris Adams
>>
>> Executive Director
>>
>> w: thegreenwebfoundation.org
>> e: chris at thegreenwebfoundation.org
>> t: @mrchrisadams
>>
>> German Office
>> Naunynstrasse 40
>> 10999 Berlin
>> Germany
>>
>> See our contact page for more details
>> https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/contact/
>>
>> Book a short call with me to discuss something.
>> https://cal.com/mrchrisadams
>>
>>
>> On 20. Apr 2023, at 07:43, Daniel Schien <Daniel.Schien at bristol.ac.uk>
>> wrote:
>>
>> I assume any object in orbit will be hidden from the sun some of the
>> time. So, the machines will require some pretty big battery to go up with
>> them.
>>
>> I'd like to also know what the launch cost is.
>>
>> Tom Segert estimates in his LinkedIn post, for a 100kg satellite payload:
>>
>> "TL:DR ~57 ton CO2e for a typical ESA satellite (including Ariane 6
>> launch), <15t CO2e for a satellite built in a factory and launched with a
>> re-usable rocket."
>>
>> Depending on the type of server that should go up there, this is a fair
>> amount of carbon to offset from brighter sunlight.
>>
>> The article also gets the carbon footprint wrong:
>>
>> "Data centers are big energy consumers – between 2% and 3% of all global
>> consumption – a rate that is doubling every year."
>>
>> The latest was IEA estimating it to be around 220-320 TWh (out of 30,000)
>> in 2021 data and growing between 10-60% over 6 years in total (so let's
>> than 10 CAGR). But it's certainly not doubling every year. That's just
>> completely wrong.
>>
>>
>> Daniel Schien
>> Senior Lecturer in Computer Science
>> Department of Computer Science | University of Bristol
>> *Submit software engineering project ideas for 2022*
>>
>> bris.ac.uk/software-engineering
>> Watch: https://youtu.be/lU-ZsBDFWDI
>>
>> Merchant Venturers Building , Woodland Rd Bristol, BS8 1UB
>> *Book a meeting*:
>> https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/OfficeHours@bristol.ac.uk/booki
>> <https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/OfficeHours@bristol.ac.uk/bookings/>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* E-impact <e-impact-bounces at ietf.org> on behalf of Vint Cerf
>> <vint=40google.com at dmarc.ietf.org>
>> *Sent:* Thursday, April 20, 2023 2:16:38 AM
>> *To:* tom at evslin.com <tom at evslin.com>
>> *Cc:* Michael Richardson <mcr at sandelman.ca>; starlink <
>> starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net>; e-impact at ietf.org <e-impact at ietf.org>
>> *Subject:* Re: [E-impact] [Starlink] DataCenters in Space (was Re: fiber
>> IXPs in space)
>>
>> O&M will be a bear
>> v
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 9:13 PM Tom Evslin via Starlink <
>> starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
>>
>> I think space-based data centers will be the rule rather than the
>> exception. Wrote about that a couple of years ago although, as usual,
>> things have not happened as quickly as I predicted
>> https://blog.tomevslin.com/2021/07/computing-clouds-in-orbit-a-possible-roadmap.html
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Starlink <starlink-bounces at lists.bufferbloat.net> On Behalf Of
>> Michael Richardson via Starlink
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2023 7:35 PM
>> To: starlink <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net>; e-impact at ietf.org
>> Subject: [Starlink] DataCenters in Space (was Re: fiber IXPs in space)
>>
>>
>> I saw this reported in BIS-Spaceflight.
>> (I'm usually a few months behind in reading it) I like the "first
>> objective"!
>>
>>
>> https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press-release/ascend-thales-alenia-space-lead-european-feasibility-study-data
>>
>> Cannes, November 14, 2022 – Thales Alenia Space, the joint company
>> between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has been chosen by the European
>> Commission to lead the ASCEND (Advanced Space Cloud for European Net zero
>> emission and Data sovereignty) feasibility study for data centers in orbit,
>> as part of Europe’s vast Horizon Europe research program.
>>
>> Digital technology’s expanding environmental footprint is becoming a major
>> challenge: the burgeoning need for digitalization means that data centers
>> in Europe and around the world are growing at an exponential pace, which in
>> turn has a critical energy and environmental impact.
>>
>> The first objective of this study will be to assess if the carbon
>> emissions from the production and launch of these space infrastructures
>> will be significantly lower than the emissions generated by ground-based
>> data centers, therefore contributing to the achievement of global carbon
>> neutrality. The second objective will be to prove that it is possible to
>> develop the required launch solution and to ensure the deployment and
>> operability of these spaceborne data centers using robotic assistance
>> technologies currently being developed in Europe, such as the EROSS IOD
>> demonstrator.
>>
>> This project is expected to demonstrate to which extent space-based data
>> centers would limit the energy and environmental impact of their ground
>> counterparts, thus allowing major investments within the scope of Europe’s
>> Green Deal, possibly justifying the development of a more climate-friendly,
>> reusable heavy launch vehicle. Europe could thus regain its leadership in
>> space transport and space logistics, as well as the assembly and operations
>> of large infrastructures in orbit.
>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Please send any postal/overnight deliveries to:
>> Vint Cerf
>> Google, LLC
>> 1900 Reston Metro Plaza, 16th Floor
>> Reston, VA 20190
>> +1 (571) 213 1346
>>
>>
>> until further notice
>>
>>
>>
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