cooling
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In-Reply-To: <
CAJPayv2W_T5RFnqmdpoJcMYt...@mail.gmail.com>
On Thu, Jul 30, 2026 at 07:46:12AM -0400, John Clark wrote:
> *A new patent for orbital data centers that uses passive cooling*
> <
https://www.geekwire.com/2026/sophia-space-caltech-ai-patent-orbital-data-centers/>
Amusing. It resembles
http://server-sky.com, which I published
(and put into the public domain) two decades ago. If anyone
wants to kill this patent in court, pay my plane fare and I'll
help. For now, a patent is how most companies raise money,
so I'll let them shake down their investors first.
----
Server sky still evolves. Currently 20 kilowatts of COLD
computing per kilogram.
"Light-sailing" to rearrange heterogeneous elements,
optimizing data movement for emerging computation tasks.
PV wants to face the Sun ... and gets hot. Computing
surface wants to be in the PV surface shadow,
perpendicular to the PV surface, and face 3K deep space.
Reducing temperature chip as much as possible. Colder
means smaller kT×ln(2) bit energy scaling, and smaller
proportional-to 2^(T/10K) wearout rates.
I should publish again, more ideas about connecting
nearby segments with steerable solid state lasers.
Next gen chips will connect with photons, not electrons.
Note that some of the technology I plan to use is trade
secret; I figured it out from first principles ...
but A Very Large CPU Company nearby employs many of my
friends, so I protect that company by voluntarily STFU.
After their CPU competitors also figure out those
technologies, I'll share what I know with the list.
Longer term, external tiny pick-and-place robots will
replace old compute chips with newer technology chips.
There's a lot that chip designers like me can optimize,
if we can make tiny MEMS robots swarm like ants.
( Ants invented micro-gravity 100 MYA, by BEING micro. )
Bottom line, bleeding edge semiconductor technology can
transform space-tech enormously. Racks are for UNIVAC.
----
BTW, electronics (used more efficiently than "mass-drivers")
can also launch spacetech REALLY REALLY cheap.
See
http://launchloop.com .
There are some "pre" spinoffs that can earn billions using
similar "loop" technology over the next two decades.
----
Will I live to see that? I'm 72. My MD wife has helped
keep her Maryland father alive to age 108, so far.
Another "treatment trip" planned for September, perhaps
also meeting with space geeks in the Maryland/DC area.
Bring your calculators and your calculus.
Keith L.
P.S.: my http sites should be https, but I'm clueless
about most sysadmin, especially proper website design.
If you are a web wizard who can't fix a wall socket,
let's teach each other.
--
Keith Lofstrom
kei...@keithl.com