[chuckadams]

Train-in-a-vacuum-tube isn't even restricted by the laws of physics, and it doesn't have to be a perfect vacuum anyway, just low pressure. Data Centers IN SPAAAAAACE have the teensy little problem of cooling that you can't just brute-force a solution to. Those giant things dangling off the ISS that make up most of its footprint aren't solar panels, they're heatsinks, and they still have issues managing heat.

[rbanffy]

Well... If the launch cost is low enough you can just pack a radiator large enough. Good thing this might drive the development of a wider Starship and Ultraheavy booster (or a Superheavy-Heavy where three Superheavy rockets boost a bigger, heavier Starship). Eventually we can get to the Comicallyheavy booster.

[chuckadams]

Perhaps, but I don't see the costs getting anywhere near being worth it. You'd need a space elevator or to manufacture the sinks IN SPAA— er, in space. The latter is theoretically possible but still extremely remote, the former still requires unobtanium.

[rbanffy]

It all depends on how far you are willing to go to make your server invulnerable to a police raid.

[throw310822]

The police will just arrest you and/ or anyone who operates the downlinks or connects to you. The server can stay in space.

[chuckadams]

"Encouraging" the uplink operator into backdooring the system is also very likely a page in the playbook.

[rbanffy]

If the user is sophisticated, and has full control over the onboard hardware, this might be difficult. I am sure the satellites that will be built and marketed for this specific use case will be hardened against interference by any third parties.

And, since they are under no real jurisdiction once in orbit, enforcement would be impractical.

[aeternum]

Energy radiation scales T^4 so physics is really on your side here. If you can engineer GPUs to run a little hotter you get significant decreases in radiator size required.

[adrian_b]

That will have to wait 10 years, or even a few more years, for a transition from silicon to a semiconductor with a wider bandgap.

[aeternum]

I doubt that, there really wasn't much effort put to allowing GPUs to run hotter. You can always add a heat pump to create the thermal gradient of the GPU can't handle it itself.