[Starlink] Re: AI IN SPACE: Post from Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

[<tom@evslin.com>]

Just to speculate out of my depth:

Although the first generation of orbiting and probably lunar datacenters
will probably be made from components which were designed for use on earth,
the second generation may not be.

Waste heat comes mainly from electrical resistance. But there is little
waste heat with superconductivity. Is it possible to design circuits meant
for use only in space which are largely superconducting so that both the
energy demand is way down and there is less heat to dissipate? 

Fiber is a wave guide in a scattering atmosphere. Do we need fiber between
lasers and receptors in space for short distances when we don't need the
signal to go around corners? Fiber adds impedance and distortion and
increases the transmit power needed.

Is there a battery-like chemical reaction powered by extra heat which
reverses in shade and uses the chemically-stored heat to generate
electricity?

How much better (or differently designed) can chips be when manufactured
without either gravity or contamination?

Fun to think about what constraints will be gone and what that might mean.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Lang via Starlink <starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> 
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2025 3:12 PM
To: Michael Richardson <mcr@sandelman.ca>
Cc: David Lang <david@lang.hm>; starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net
Subject: [Starlink] Re: AI IN SPACE: Post from Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

Michael Richardson wrote:

> Which is to say, they satellite is always getting heated from one side 
> :-)
>
> For non-sun synchronous LEOs, does the dark time help with radiant
cooling?
> I assume some satellites' cooling profile are designed around the 
> assumption that they will be dark for a portion of the orbit?

when you are in sunlight, you can radiate in 5 directions (except the tiny
slices that face the earth and moon)

when you are not in sunlight, you have to operate on battery power

if you are in a 90 min low orbit, you spend just over 33 min in shadow each
orbit.

When you are in geosynchronous orbit (24 hour orbit) you only end up in the
shadow for a few months each year (late February to mid-April and late
August to
mid-October) and then only for about 70 min out of each 1440 min orbit

so no, satellites do not rely on being in the shadow for their cooling

David Lang
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