Solar
273 posts
@SpaceInvestor_D Hang on.... Given their current collaborations who could viably produce that size of panel? $ASTI?
Blue Origin just filed for a 51,600-satellites Orbital Data Center constellation called "Project Sunrise" h/t: @trypto_tran @FranciscoSpace5
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in new interview on orbital datacenters: "The challenge of course is that cooling, you can't take advantage of conduction and convection, so you can only use radiation, and radiation requires very large surfaces, but that's not an impossible things to solve. There's a lot of space in space. We're going to go explore it. We're already radiation hardened. We have Cuda in satellites around the world. In the meantime, we're going to explore what is the architecture of datacenters look like in space. It'll take years, but that's ok. I got time." via @theallinpod
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in new interview on orbital datacenters: "The challenge of course is that cooling, you can't take advantage of conduction and convection, so you can only use radiation, and radiation requires very large surfaces, but that's not an impossible things to solve. There's a lot of space in space. We're going to go explore it. We're already radiation hardened. We have Cuda in satellites around the world. In the meantime, we're going to explore what is the architecture of datacenters look like in space. It'll take years, but that's ok. I got time." via @theallinpod
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in new interview on orbital datacenters: "The challenge of course is that cooling, you can't take advantage of conduction and convection, so you can only use radiation, and radiation requires very large surfaces, but that's not an impossible things to solve. There's a lot of space in space. We're going to go explore it. We're already radiation hardened. We have Cuda in satellites around the world. In the meantime, we're going to explore what is the architecture of datacenters look like in space. It'll take years, but that's ok. I got time." via @theallinpod
We have shipped our 20kW satellite - Gravitas - to the launch site. Given the supply chain to operate at this power regime doesn’t exist, we had to build 85% of the satellite in-house. This includes building our own large solar arrays, high power propulsion system, large batteries, large reaction wheels and much more. This launch will represent the first time all of these systems are test on orbit together. Internally at @K2SpaceCo, we’ve thought about a few levels of success for this mission - we expect mission success to fall somewhere along this spectrum: - Tier 1 (Baseline mission success): Deploy solar arrays, establish comms, operate the satellite —> we’ve now got an operational 20kW satellite on orbit - Tier 2: Power on the payloads, activate the 20kW propulsion system —> we’re completing payload missions and have fired the highest power hall thruster ever flown on orbit - Tier 3: Orbit raise the satellite, test performance in high radiation environments (like 2,000km) —> we’ve collected massive amounts of data on the performance of the platform in very very difficult environments More than anything, Gravitas represents the start of an iterative journey, where we will take the data we receive from this first satellite and incorporate it into the next wave of satellites launching next year. We’re excited to start this journey, we’ll report back as we get more data. Thanks to Tim for covering our story on TechCrunch techcrunch.com/2026/03/19/k2-…
@jhong The limiting factor will shift from chips to energy on Earth, then back to chips when space solar (star) power is unlocked
I'm going to make some obvious points. (1) Blowing up all the oil infrastructure in the Middle East is an insane idea, and may well result in a global economic crash and humanitarian crisis unrivaled in the lives of those now living. We're talking about the price of everything everywhere rising, from food to gas, at a moment when inflation was already high. All of that will be laid at the feet of the authors of this war. (2) The antebellum status quo of Feb 27, 2026 was just not that bad, but we're unlikely to return to it. Expect indefinite, long-term, ongoing disruptions to everything out of the Middle East. (3) Also assume tech financing crashes for the indefinite future. The genius plan to get the Gulf states caught in the crossfire has incinerated much of the funding for LPs, for datacenters, and for IPOs. Anyone in tech who supported this war may soon learn the meaning of "force majeure" as funding gets yanked. (4) Many capital allocators will instead be allocating much further down Maslow's hierarchy of needs, towards useful basic things like food and energy. (5) It's fortunate that all those progressives yelled about the "climate crisis." Yes, their reasoning about timelines was wrong, and much of the money was wasted in graft, but the result was right: we all need energy independence from the Middle East, pronto. It's also fortunate that Elon and China autistically took climate seriously. Now they're going to need to ship a billion solar panels, electric vehicles, batteries, nuclear power plants, and the like to get everyone off oil, immediately. (6) It's not just an oil and gas problem, of course. It's also a fertilizer problem, and a chemical precursor problem. Maybe some new sources will come online at the new prices, but it takes time to dial stuff up, particularly at this scale, so shortages are almost a certainty. That said, China has actually scaled up coal-to-chemicals[a,c] (C2C), and there's also something more sci-fi called Power-to-X[b] which turns arbitrary power + water + air into hydrocarbons. But all of that will need to get accelerated. I have a background in chemical engineering so may start funding things in this area. (7) Ultimately, this war is going to result in tremendous blame for anyone associated with it. It's a no-win scenario to blow up this much infrastructure for so many people. Simply not worth it for whatever objective they thought they were going to attain. But unless you're actually in a position to stop the madness, the pragmatic thing to do is: scramble to mitigate the fallout to yourself, your business, and your people. [a]: reuters.com/business/energ… [b]: alfalaval.com/industries/ene… [c]: reuters.com/sustainability…
I’m super excited to finally be able to share that @Starcloud_ is collaborating with @NVIDIA on a space version of the next-gen Rubin chip called Space-1 Vera Rubin Module! Does that render look familiar?? 👀😃🚀
