alt Hacker NewsI still don’t see what the advantage is. Of course it’s physically possible to build a datacenter in space, but I can’t imagine land prices being that high that the same data center on earth wouldn’t be cheaper. Even just due to launch costs and the more sophisticated equipment needed for space.
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One advantage that does come to mind in light of the Iran war (and the loss of an AWS DC) is difficulty in attacking it, even when it’s directly above foreign territory. I wonder if one of the intended customers will be gov/military? Conjoined spy satellite/DC for some function maybe?
The real issue is that the power situation in LEO is still actually terrible! Your solar is a little more performant, but you're plunged into hard shade every 45 minutes.
I doubt it'll make sense any time soon, but some arguments I can think of are that solar in space can easily be ~50% more efficient at any moment while also being continuous (enough) in the right orbit.
An even more radical idea is to put nuclear in space which would sidestep all the earthly hurdles (beyond the launch).