31–40 of 172 posts
What about putting the data center in some kind of low Earth orbit? Something within the magnetic field, but far enough out to radiate heat? Would the latency still be a factor if your web server and CDN were hosted "in a cloud" on numerous communications satellites?
I'm all for exploring new approaches, however: a) Salt water is highly corrosive. Wouldn't maintenance costs be high? b) Isn't marine biology highly sensitive to heat pollution? For high latency services like Amazon Glacier, wouldn't it make sense to host in a place like Iceland? Really cheap hydrothermic/clean power. Highly educated local talent pool, and relatively consistent cool temperatures. If you're maintainin…
> Salt water is highly corrosive. To metals. Not so much to plastics. > Isn't marine biology highly sensitive to heat pollution? Isn't land-based biology highly sensitive to heat pollution?
No, land-based organisms comparatively have a much, much higher tolerance to temperature swings.
Water's high heat capacity and conductivity means that most marine environments have extremely stable temperature ranges (a few degrees one way or other), so most marine species are adapted to live in only that range, and quickly die otherwise. Tropical fish are hard to keep alive precisely for this reason.
Air temperature varies much more widely depending on time of day, season, and weather, so terrestrial organisms have all developed extensive strategies for thermoregulation (e.g. mammals, birds). For example, dogs can survive in both arctic and tropical environments.
Plus, while heat is naturally dissipated upward, underwater thermal plumes are more likely to affect fish than above-ground plumes would affect birds.
FYI, Cornell uses lake water to cool several campus buildings, and they needed to carefully review that the warmer return water wouldn't negatively affect fish [1].
[1] https://energyandsustainability.fs.cornell.edu/util/cooling/...
Edit: Great points! Space would be a terrible location for data center hosting, not only due to latency and heat radiation issues, but also due to the difficulty in mitigating solar radiation. What about putting the data center in some kind of low Earth orbit? Something within the magnetic field, but far enough out to radiate heat? Would the latency still be a factor if your web server and CDN were hosted "in a cloud…
Edit: Great points! Space would be a terrible location for data center hosting, not only due to latency and heat radiation issues, but also due to the difficulty in mitigating solar radiation. What about putting the data center in some kind of low Earth orbit? Something within the magnetic field, but far enough out to radiate heat? Would the latency still be a factor if your web server and CDN were hosted "in a cloud…
Also cosmic rays will wreck havoc on all your delicate silicon chips.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The pod is sealed, it doesn't even have oxygen inside.
And how does data get into this data center? Where is the power comming from? All those connections still must go through penetrations. It can be done, i just question the worth.
Edit: Great points! Space would be a terrible location for data center hosting, not only due to latency and heat radiation issues, but also due to the difficulty in mitigating solar radiation. What about putting the data center in some kind of low Earth orbit? Something within the magnetic field, but far enough out to radiate heat? Would the latency still be a factor if your web server and CDN were hosted "in a cloud…
To transfer heat, you need a medium for the heat to transfer through. I believe some heat can be lost due to radiation, and so they have these big metal fins as heat sinks to radiate as much heat as possible, and reflective material on the solar facing side to prevent more heat from being absorbed.
The water, on the other hand, is a fantastic absorber of heat, and I'm guessing it's easier to drop one in the ocean, rather than launch one to space.
I'm all for exploring new approaches, however: a) Salt water is highly corrosive. Wouldn't maintenance costs be high? b) Isn't marine biology highly sensitive to heat pollution? For high latency services like Amazon Glacier, wouldn't it make sense to host in a place like Iceland? Really cheap hydrothermic/clean power. Highly educated local talent pool, and relatively consistent cool temperatures. If you're maintainin…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And how does data get into this data center? Where is the power comming from? All those connections still must go through penetrations. It can be done, i just question the worth.
Penetrations are not necessary. It is possible to use electromagnetic radiation to transfer both data and power.
The article mentions that one of the benefits is that they don't have to deal with building codes being different in different places. It's truly an "off the shelf" data center that doesn't have to be customized for the laws, zoning, and codes in that area. But who is in charge of the seabed around the United States? I imagine that I can't just drop a big metal container on the ocean floor without informing someone o…
But what about global warming ? Wouldn't rising water levels be a big threat to such experiments ?
There are ways to use cold water for cooling without submersing things. Many of the buildings in downtown Toronto (including the 151 Front IX point and datacenter) are cooled from deep lake loop cooling/heat exchange: https://www.google.com/search?q=toronto+deep+lake+cooling&ie...