Yeah, I am in no way suggesting we need more of them down here. I (like the tech billionaires proposing these things) am completely ignoring everything except the cost to build and run them. I just don't understand how the financial part could make sense..

A 60 ft x 60 ft mirror will reflect (if perfect) about 500 kW of Sun. It won't all hit solar panels. If you replaced the mirror with solar panels at 25% efficiency, that's 125 kW. Google says you can get $0.03 to $0.06 for a kWh. That's $7.50 max for an hour of this satellite, assuming some kind of lossless power transmission to the grid. $180 per day, or about $65,000 per year from one satellite.

If you go with the reflector instead of the solar cells in orbit, you could spread that power out over a few million square meters, let's say 10% of which might contain solar cells. That would be $6500 per year, except for the fact that the inverters won't turn on for that pissant light intensity. Seems like launching one with a pretty average camera could make you more money and not requiring magic power beaming.

Of course, with 50,000 of them, you could lose your ass so much faster.

No, you're just a wannabe-edgelord 13 year old with no significant frontal lobe activity.

I get that the Sun doesn't shine all the time, and the wind doesn't blow all the time. What I don't get is that batteries exist. If you're planning a 100 MW data center, it's got to be cheaper, though not as eye-catching, to install 300, 400, 500 MW of solar panels and/or wind turbines and a big-ass battery here on Earth. Cooling is easier, no micrometeors to worry about, no need for radiation-hardened chips, the ability to go out and fix something that breaks, and, the largest benefit, you don't have to fling the whole friggin' thing into orbit. How is this even a serious proposal?

No one will "convince" you because reason didn't get you to where you are. If you think paying your share for a functioning society is robbery, you're not serious, you're a 12 year old edgelord or Elon Musk. "DIsagree with freedom and liberty". Go rub one out to some Ayn Rand, kid.

Incel Inside.

Two options here: you hate society and don't want to be a part of it. Fine. Don't let the doorknob hit you on the way to Somalia or wherever. Other option: you like all the modern services and conveniences society provides, but somehow someone other than you should pay for them. So, unabomber or asshole. Pick your ad hominem.

Paying your share of taxes isn't robbery, you marginally useful idiot. You probably consider yourself a "self made man", thoroughly ignorant of the infrastructure you used to succeed, assuming you did succeed. The bridges, roads, internet, power grid, water and sewer systems, public schools and universities, hospitals, etc., that you and/or your employees/employers relied on to make your job possible just sprouted from thin air, so you don't have to consider them. Likewise for national security, police, fire, etc. But the damn gubmint keeps "robbing" you for taxes for nothing.

"2) Space compute - the operation of non-Earth based data centeres providing at least 100 terawatts of annual compute capacity "

That can't possibly be right, can it? From https://ourworldindata.org/ene... the Earth uses about 200,000 TWh per year. With 8760 hours per year, that means average power consumed is around 22-23 TW.

40% efficient cells means about 540 W/m^2 (hell, call it 1000) meaning 100 billion m^2 of cells, or a square 316 km on a side, or a bit more than 1 Indiana of solar cells. This makes colonizing Mars look like the safety goal.

is probably whoever responded to the diet coke button in the first term. Or someone with equivalent qualifications.

is to blunt criticism from groups starting to object to paying infrastructure costs for giant AI data centers. Now, instead of saying we have to raise your rates to pay for the GooglePlex we're building on the edge of town, it will that we have to raise rates to pay for all the single family homes going in up at Google Acres.

I heard that they have uncovered one of the world's largest reserves of bullshit buzzwords, so that should add a few hundred billion to the market cap.

The 27.3 day period is sidereal (i.e., relative to the stars). The cycle of phases, or synodic period, is about 29.5 days.

Because if the WH doesn't get to see the new stuff first, they won't know which stock to buy and which to short.

Don't forget billions for wars in the Middle East.