Discussion
Elon Musk moved SpaceX to red Texas. Now it's blue. What happens next?
"Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now."
https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/11/elon-musk-moved-spacex-to-red-texas-now-its-blue-what-happens-next/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
@arstechnica very funny, one senator does not make a statement "blue". Get back to me when they stop voting for Congressman Mark Texiera
@arstechnica Guess he's moving to Florida 🙃
@arstechnica Data centers yeeted into the sun look even more appealing right now.
@arstechnica He's going to be so disappointed when he goes up and discovers it's wall-to-wall Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism above the atmosphere.
@arstechnica actually, data centre's in space is a just plain loser idea. The physics of both power generation and cooling are incredibly huge. And would weigh an insane amount of both solar panels and cooling radiator. This would all weigh an extraordinary amount, it would be non trivial to get into space and assemble it all. Not to mention that repairs are effectively impossible and rack replacements for better/newer chips are likewise very hard. If Elon goes for it-it will bankrupt him.
@arstechnica he is forced to pay taxes?
@arstechnica
Musk plowed half a trillion dollars into this election and couldn't get a republican elected. In Texas.
@arstechnica
I think your analysis overlooks that many of us want data centers in space even less than on Earth. Even if they were technically viable, which they aren't, the environmental impact of all the necessary launches, which would be ongoing as they are replaced every three years or so, would be even worse than that of equivalent data center operational impact on Earth. That's not even considering the effects of them deorbiting, or Kessler Syndrome.