The ODC (Orbital Data Center) is a new type of data center that operates in Earth's orbit, designed to provide in-space data storage, processing, and AI/ML solutions for satellites and spacecraft.
The idea sounds cool (pun intended) and appealing. What about radiation protection? Did they mention it? Because sensitive electronics, chips, onboard computers, etc will require heavy shielding from radiation if they are to work in space long-term. And then, the natural cooling of space is not really available anymore.. So it’s not as straightforward.
That's definitely a great point - as far as I'm concerned, we're definitely at least 10 years out from small-scale meaningful launches and decades out from this tech being a reality at scale because of radiation and latency concerns. Maintenance is yet another issue - seems excessively prohibitive to attempt to maintain these networks when separated by hundreds of kilometers between the ground and the ODC!
The idea sounds cool (pun intended) and appealing. What about radiation protection? Did they mention it? Because sensitive electronics, chips, onboard computers, etc will require heavy shielding from radiation if they are to work in space long-term. And then, the natural cooling of space is not really available anymore.. So it’s not as straightforward.
That's definitely a great point - as far as I'm concerned, we're definitely at least 10 years out from small-scale meaningful launches and decades out from this tech being a reality at scale because of radiation and latency concerns. Maintenance is yet another issue - seems excessively prohibitive to attempt to maintain these networks when separated by hundreds of kilometers between the ground and the ODC!