Escape Velocity

Elon Musk is on the verge of escape velocity. No, he’s not breaking out of Earth’s orbit at the speed of 11.186 km/s (25,020 mph; 36,700 ft/s) on one of his rockets. But he is trying real hard to push his net worth higher and be the first person to hit $1T. 

Ironically, he had this to say on a recent podcast of People by WTF:

‘I think money disappears as a concept, honestly…’

Hmmm. OK. You go first.

Everything seems easy for the ecumenical Mr. Musk who consistently strives to unite all the disparate branches of the military industrial complex, aka MIC, to enhance his net worth. Of course, let’s face it, the MIC are the one’s really going to space. The rest of us are invited to participate in the funding model. Not saying that’s a bad thing. I use the microwave oven on occasion and Velcro can be a godsend when you are six or 96. Regardless of your terrestrial thoughts on space, there are many reasons to go to space, but Data Centers are not one of them.

Matt Durot over at Forbes says that Musk has now crossed the threshold of $600M net worth, thanks in large part to the proposed SpaceX 2026 IPO which will put the valuation of the new company at approximately $1.5T. Here’s what Matt (who’s job description is to write about the world’s richest people) had to say:

‘Even without an IPO at that valuation, which would likely make Musk a trillionaire, Musk’s estimated $336 billion stake in SpaceX is now his most valuable asset, according to Forbes’ estimates.’

Sounds like either way Musk wins at the Space race.

We don’t have any hatred in our hearts though. We’re capitalists at CloudNineData for the most part. If Mr. Musk wants to bathe in a huge vat of Dom Perignon that’s his business.

This is an article about space, and the emerging talk track of Data Centers in space. A lot of money will be made from space and space related startups. Like Mr. Spaceman Musk himself, we aspire to make money from space too. Still, it would be a tragedy to funnel money away from more down to earth opportunities like vastly improving our terrestrial-based Data Center and energy infrastructure in the pursuit of Data Centers in Space. We can do both things in parallel, but the use cases are vastly different, as are the costs and benefits.

We like propulsion, advanced communication systems, new generation materials, chemicals, gases, and robots.

Amazing things that we like about space:

• Space is BIG. The further out you go the bigger it gets. It’s a physics thing.
• Off world precious and exotic minerals extraction.
• Having Robots going boldly where nobody in their right mind is ever going to go in my lifetime.
• New ways of harnessing vast amounts of energy. The Sun puts out a tremendous amount of heat  –  384.6 septillion watts, to be precise.
• Water, even on the moon.
• Escape to another planet should the powers that be ruin this one.

On the other hand, nobody, as in any real flesh and blood person, ventures into space for long periods at this moment in time without someone paying them or forcing them to do so. I’m sure Cristobal Colon (aka Christopher Columbus) was given a stark choice as he stared out into the Atlantic under threat of certain death by the Queen of Spain should he not comply with an exploratory voyage to an undiscovered new world (yet somehow in 1492, they knew there was one). Everything about space is difficult.

What we don’t like about Data Centers in space:

• It’s very cold and very hot, extreme conditions don’t begin to describe it. We keep hearing about how efficient cooling will be in space; that’s half the story. Compute and networking resources don’t really like extreme shifts in temps. According to the American Military University, Temperatures at the ISS range between 250° F in direct sunlight and -250° F in opposition to the Sun. Get way out there and they have to change the scale to measure temperature from Fahrenheit / Celsius to Kelvin so they can better analyze ever so slight amounts of background radiation from absolute zero.
• A DC in space is about as far as it can be from anyone on earth – anything goes wrong, lots of people and things required to fix it. Don’t like the middleman, don’t go to space. Space is a gigantic exercise in systems integration. Ask your average CIO how often large SI projects fail. Hint, it mirrors the divorce rate across the US.
• Work is difficult in space by one and sometimes two orders of magnitude. Gotta go the bathroom – 5 mins on earth, 50 mins in space. Replace a motherboard – 60 minutes on earth, 10 hours in space. Checking in on maintenance for a remote site – 40 hours on earth, nearly 24 weeks for prep, launch, work, return (if you are lucky).
• Space junk and other debris. There are now clouds of material circling the earth at extraordinary velocity. The more we send up there, the more hazardous it becomes for people and infrastructure alike.
• Space weather. With no atmosphere and no magnetosphere to protect you and your payload, events like solar flares can be monumental and catastrophic.
• Security. Bad guys love easy targets. There are places to hide on the ground. Nowhere to hide in orbit from a variety of attacks.
• Pollution. Rocketry is a messy business. A toxic cocktail is released into the air we breathe with every launch.

Even making good films about space is difficult. Alfonso Cuarón made a wonderful and insightful movie called Gravity back in 2013. He thought it would take a year to complete; it ended up taking four and a half. If you are looking for something to do with the dark and spacey nights ahead over the holidays, check out this hidden gem even if you have seen it before. You can count on the fact that it will only take one hour and 31 mins to watch it. 

Buy space IPOs, but don’t put your data up there.

‘I hate Space’ – Dr. Ryan Stone (played by Sandra Bullock)

Gravity 2013

Alfonso Cuarón (won Oscar, Director)