You know 'space' is a vacuum, right?

roer · 2026-05-21T05:46:50 1779342410

I don't see how that would lessen their concerns? Exactly because space is a vacuum, cooling is harder since you can't do convection.

The math still checks out though. Scott Manley did a video on it, and the top comment has some corrections: https://youtu.be/FlQYU3m1e80

nickburns · 2026-05-21T14:14:27 1779372867

So basically—you get your physics knowledge from YouTube. Got it.

tomhow · 2026-05-22T04:41:24 1779424884

Please don't post snarky dismissals on HN. The guidelines make it clear we're trying for something better here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

roer · 2026-05-22T04:35:32 1779424532

Scott Manley is a much more respected source than I am

dzhiurgis · 2026-05-21T09:17:03 1779355023

30% of terrestrial datacenter power use is cooling. Space cooling is easier!

dgellow · 2026-05-21T18:10:49 1779387049

What makes cooling easier in space? Isn’t it harder due to the lack of atmosphere?

dzhiurgis · 2026-05-21T20:25:56 1779395156

Just need radiators, no fans, no piping, no ac compressors, no moving parts.

dgellow · 2026-05-21T21:11:50 1779397910

How? There is no heat dissipation without an atmosphere. I mean, you have dissipation via radiation but that’s very slow

roer · 2026-05-22T04:39:48 1779424788

Not that slow if the temperature is high enough. Power radiated is proportional to T^4

datadrivenangel · 2026-05-22T08:00:05 1779436805

I don't want to run my cpus at optimal radiator temperatures... 1000s of degrees is not ideal.

noitpmeder · 2026-05-22T11:08:08 1779448088

Not on earth at least!

nickburns · 2026-05-21T21:04:56 1779397496

But, but—convection!