Space Computing with a clear example

Cosmos is cool. Space exploration will forever remain one of the most impressive undertakings of mankind. This, however, does not make all cosmic ideas good. For example, today there is already the idea of ​​creating a network of satellite servers that will be in orbit and transmit data from and to ground stations. We will not discuss the nature of the alleged breakthroughs in both data transfer and processing, but these new “server farms” are planned to be placed in orbit along with huge solar installations for their power. This is problematic for several reasons.

Positive

Data centers on Earth are significant energy consumers, using 10% of the world's electricity. As the amount of generated electronic data continues to grow exponentially, the need for more servers will grow, thereby increasing energy requirements.

A startup from Los Angeles , ConnectX, wants to solve this problem by sending servers into space, where they can receive power from solar radiation. In addition, servers in space can process information faster due to the severe cold of the surrounding space and the lack of resistance on rotating disks.
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However, there are some problems. On Earth, data is usually transmitted through cables and fiber optics. Satellites receive and send information using electromagnetic waves. These waves are almost twenty times slower than traditional wires, which makes the transfer of large amounts of data from space troublesome.

ConnectX think they found the answer to this question. The company is working on a way to “rotate” the radio beams so that they can transmit more information. The company also departs from the traditional binary information transmission system, which requires several waves to transmit a sequence of ones and zeros, which are equated to one symbol. A startup is developing a new system, where symbols and even whole phrases can be transmitted on the same wavelength.

The idea of ​​space servers involves tremendous savings in data storage and cost reduction due to a unique space platform, while fundamental complexity and redundancy is only needed to ensure the reliability of enterprise-class equipment on Earth. This is correct, because each backup rack or hard disk is an extra weight for a launch vehicle , that is, where mass and size are worth its weight in gold.

Negative

Everything related to space is not so simple. Even in low earth orbit (LEO), which provides substantial protection from cosmic rays, sensors and computer systems are exposed to much higher levels of space radiation. This does not interfere with the use of conventional equipment — indeed, many computers are used on the International Space Station — but if you need to install a satellite to process data in low-Earth orbit, absolutely different cooling and operating requirements should be taken into account. Traditional forced air cooling does not work (for obvious reasons), and without gravity the heat does not rise to the top - one of the problems on the ISS is that the heat from the laptops does not disappear anywhere.

Similarly, using huge solar panels to generate electricity for satellites is an interesting idea - solar radiation above the atmosphere is much stronger than below, but creating a space solar installation on a large scale as a means of powering huge server installations is completely unjustified.

Already here the idea of ​​space servers is starting to look a bit strange. It is supposed to use ultra-cheap satellites, but their computational power is extremely modest - in any case, for equipment that would be used for high-speed data transmission, network access with a giant symbolic processing language and huge bandwidth connected to Earth.

By the way, ConnectX has an economist, futurist, biologist, security consultant, professor of mathematics, a test physicist and not a single engineer. This flaw makes ConnectX a cost-saving idea due to going into space dubious. Even if the assertions about creating a new symbolic language are true, nothing more proves the success of the “cosmic” idea.

Summarize

Until now, when mentioning cloud computing, everyone understood that the cloud is a metaphor for identifying groups of remote network servers. Now "space computing" should be understood literally: as physical servers operating in outer space.

Space servers have many advantages, but there are also obvious disadvantages. Here is how it all looks in brief:

Benefits:

• The solution to energy problems, because data centers use up to 10% of world electricity;
• Fast data processing in space environment.
  

Disadvantages:

• There is no need to comply with the laws of a particular country or follow legal issues, since the satellites are outside the field of legislation;
• Storing large amounts of data in space is not possible with the actual transfer rate;
• Space debris or small meteorites can destroy satellites;
• There is no idea of ​​a solution to the issue of coverage;
• Catastrophic high maintenance and repair.

So do we really need space servers? After all, the fact that something can be sent into space does not mean that it is worth doing.