----- Forwarded message from Michael Turner <[email protected]> -----
Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 11:02:20 -0500 From: Michael Turner <[email protected]> To: Eugen Leitl <[email protected]> Cc: Server Sky - Internet and Computing in Orbit <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Server-sky] [Beowulf] Server Sky - Internet and computation in orbit In my experience, there is little in this idea that Keith /hasn't/ considered, even if he doesn't claim to have all the answers. His wiki attempts to look at all the issues. To address a couple of the issues raised here, from memory (bad internet connections just now) - orbit stability ... IIRC thinsats get some propulsion value out of solar sailing, even from solar pressure ordinarily used for attitude control. - "does it really save anything to put the computation in orbit? ... *terrestrial solar plus( a fat comm pipe to those third world countries, wouldn't that work as well?" Good question, but fat pipes must eventually branch into thin ones. There's a last-mile/last-ten-miles (even a last 100 miles) problem for some of these countries. (Trust me on this one - I'm in the late stages of a trip that took me to Indonesia, Kenya and now Ecuador.) More important for space development and eventual global equity on climate change and energy supply generally is to establish that solar power can be directly used in orbit, adding value to photons. This helps make the case for space based solar power in general, which (at scale, anyway) would be more economical under an ISRU scenario than under earth-to-orbit logistics, for maintaining the array. I love Server Sky because it makes something like a business case for an environmental public good that also boosts space development. Whether it makes enough of any of those three things is the engineering, economic and (ultimately) political challenge. Regards, Michael Turner Project Persephone K-1 bldg 3F 7-2-6 Nishishinjuku Shinjuku-ku Tokyo 160-0023 Tel: +81 (3) 6890-1140 Fax: +81 (3) 6890-1158 Mobile: +81 (90) 5203-8682 [email protected] http://www.projectpersephone.org/ "Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction." -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 10:40 AM, Eugen Leitl <[email protected]> wrote: > ----- Forwarded message from "Lux, Jim (337C)" <[email protected]> > ----- > > Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:35:00 +0000 > From: "Lux, Jim (337C)" <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [Beowulf] Server Sky - Internet and computation in orbit > > A couple fundamental questions arise in this sort of strategy (which is > nothing really new, although technology advances are making it easier) > > 1) orbital debris - fling those thousands of widgets out there. Are they > high enough to stay in orbit for a while? Are they going to damage things > that hit them? > 2) orbital mechanics - the "array" pretty much has to be flat, that is, > they're all at the same orbit height, otherwise they'll drift apart, since > the period is different. There's also a whole raft of issues about > orientation, etc., stability of the orbit. As we all know, the earth is not > a perfect sphere with perfect 1/r^2 gravity. There are some remarkably > stable orbits (I worked on a satellite that is in one: QuikSCAT 801km orbit > at 98.6 degree inclination, a perfect 4 day repeat cycle that is very stable) > > 3) does it really save anything to put the computation in orbit? As much as I > love computing in space (particularly deep space), if you had a solar powered > conventional data center on the ground and a fat comm pipe to those third > world countries, wouldn't that work as well? The solar plant on the ground > will see about 1/3 the solar power as one in the right orbit (which may not > be stable, see #2), but mass to orbit is expensive, so why not put all those > solar cells to work on the earth's surface, rather than spending energy to > put them into orbit. > > I'd like to see more justification of the 100x cost differential between > ground and space 25 years from now. > > Jim Lux > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Eugen Leitl > Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 3:32 AM > To: [email protected]; [email protected]; NANOG list; forkit! > Subject: [Beowulf] Server Sky - Internet and computation in orbit > > > (This may be Wacky Friday, but this one is not tongue in cheek -- the name > Keith Lofstrom should ring a bell). > > http://server-sky.com/ > > Server Sky - internet and computation in orbit > > It is easier to move terabits than kilograms or megawatts. Space solar power > will solve the energy crisis. Sooner if we process space power into high > value computation before we send it to earth. Computation is most valuable > where it is rarest - in the rural developing world. Human attention is the > most valuable resource on earth, and Server Sky space-based internet can > transport that attention from where it is most abundant to where it is most > valued. > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] sponsored by Penguin Computing > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit > http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf > > ----- End forwarded message ----- > -- > Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org";>leitl</a> http://leitl.org > ______________________________________________________________ > ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://ativel.com http://postbiota.org > AC894EC5: 38A5 5F46 A4FF 59B8 336B 47EE F46E 3489 AC89 4EC5 > _______________________________________________ > Server-sky mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.server-sky.com/mailman/listinfo/server-sky ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org";>leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://ativel.com http://postbiota.org AC894EC5: 38A5 5F46 A4FF 59B8 336B 47EE F46E 3489 AC89 4EC5 _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, [email protected] sponsored by Penguin Computing To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf
