Editor’s note: … In this article, we discuss the technical challenges of building an orbital data center constellation: launching all of it, dissipating heat in space, dealing with radiation, and addressing latency issues in orbit. Read part one here.
I find the napkin math interesting, especially putting into light that given expected longevity of such satellites, 5 to 7 years, they will have to do 10 to 42 launches per day. SpaceX will need $1.5 to $10 trillions to make it happen. All of that so the slop machine doesn’t have to run into obstacles like democracy ? So it can destroy communities and the environment freely? What are we doing?
One thing Eric Berger does not go into is bandwidth. There is a hell of a lot more bandwidth available in a single pair of optical fibers on the ground compared to SpaceX’ fastest ground to air links.
They claim 1Tb/s for V3 starlink satelites. If that’s true, a fiber pair provides at least 20 times that with utterly normal off the shelf DWDM components. And that’s a single pair of fibers. Optical cables are often lain with 144 fibers, or 288 fibers.