So many questions, like how would you protect from bit flips, damage to circuits...

perihelions · 2025-10-22T12:26:03 1761135963

> "the energy costs of manufacturing and sending a rocket to outer space versus putting that fuel into a generator"

I believe it's on the order of magnitude of 100x return (for a low-orbit space photovoltiac panel that's (almost) always facing direct sun).

    (/ (* ([W (kg -1)] 200)   ;; reasonable space PV power/mass ratio
          ([year] 10)         ;; guess at lifespan
          ([ton] 100))        ;; Starship payload
       (* ([ton] 1000)        ;; tons of liquid methane in Starsihp
          ([J (kg -1)] 5e7))) ;; specific energy density of CH₄
    
    ;; => 126.226944

torginus · 2025-10-22T12:10:04 1761135004

Yeah, radiation is the enemy of integrated circuits, cosmic radiation is more damaging the smaller the features get.

You pretty much have to have multiple redundancy and special space-rated HW, which I wouldn't be surprised is stuck at super old process nodes to mitigate this exact same issue.

notahacker · 2025-10-22T12:55:52 1761137752

Tbf, leaving aside the claims about datacentres in space, working with Nvidia on radiation hardening its latest generation chips would be a good project...