The moon is a great place for solar energy production due to having no atmosphere(no cloudy days) but getting that energy back to earth is a problem... How about putting a computer farm up there and selling the data crunching power back to earth. This has the added advantages of

1.having the whole setup mounted on a pre-made satellite which would cut down on transmission times (don't have to bounce up then down again).

2.being extremely low temperatures enabling very efficient use of the computers processors
-- greyfiend, Jun 06 2006

rrr's sahara solar shared computing idea Sahara_20Shared_20Computing
the inspiration [greyfiend, Jun 06 2006]

Lunar temperatures http://www.clavius.org/envheat.html
air temp and surface temp are different [greyfiend, Jun 06 2006]

Lunar Google http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html
April Fools job posting for lunar data center. [gardnertoo, Jun 07 2006]

Google takes a partnership nasa, could a spaceship be next? http://news.bbc.co....usiness/4292458.stm
"Google will develop one million square feet of real estate at the Nasa Ames research centre..." [greyfiend, Jun 07 2006]

pull the magnatron from your microwave out of the casing, plug it in, then hold a lightbulb in your hand somewhere nearby... viola wireless electricity... nothing to do with this idea of course which is about selling data crunching ability made from solar electricity from the moon, but you can give me a bun anyway.
-- greyfiend, Jun 06 2006


2. It isn't low temperatures, it is 14 days of high temp followed by 14 days of low. You will need pretty fancy designs to survive the temperature swings.

There is always the transmission delay from earth to moon and back - which if I remember right is about four seconds for a round trip.
-- neelandan, Jun 06 2006


that's true, but for an earthbound computer farm the signal has to go from earth(the user) to the satellite, back down to earth again(the farm) back to the satellite again then back to earth again(the user).

You're right about the temperatures too, +100 degrees celcius when the sun's out, -173 in the dark, 14 earth-day intervals between lunar day and night... But that's surface temp, not air temp and behaves differently(link) I *think* all you'd have to do is put the computers in the shade(eg. under the solar panels), with no atmosphere to transfer heat, they'd stay at very low stable temperatures.
-- greyfiend, Jun 06 2006


Just changing the location doesn't make this a different idea. It's redundant, so [marked–for-deletion]. You might make such a suggestion as an anno to the original idea, but such a slight change doesn't make it new.
-- ldischler, Jun 06 2006


the location IS the idea, solar power and computer farms are not new. The sahara and the moon are very different, and I want to see what discussion comes out (is totally different no?) and credit has been given where it's due. Everything evolves from something else. How about promoting some discussion?
-- greyfiend, Jun 06 2006


No, location is not an idea, at least not here at the bakery. The idea is to go a remote location where power is cheap but getting it out is expensive, and export data instead of power. [rrr] put Sahara in there, but it's obviously just an example. (Anyway, Jutta has MFD'd the original idea, so it seems unfair to leave up a copy.)
-- ldischler, Jun 06 2006


I was merely echoing the rrr's intention (now removed), not making a decision.

If most people think that this is too derivative of the original, then it is. If enough people think the moon location makes it different enough, then that's it, too.

Whatever the novelty aspect, until we have efficient material transport to and from the moon, I think this is obviously infeasible, while the earth-bound server farms probably are not.
-- jutta, Jun 06 2006


aggreed on all points.
-- greyfiend, Jun 06 2006


bury the thing to avoid temp issues
-- tcarson, Jun 06 2006


Like I said earlier, they just have to be in the shade, ie under a reflectve umbrella(like a solar panel), then they'll be at a constant low temperature.
-- greyfiend, Jun 07 2006


Not baked, but fake-baked: Google put up an April Fools page once announcing job openings at their "new" Copernicus data center. See link. It would boast "high-density high-delivery hosting (HiDeHiDeHo) and de-oxygenated cubicle dwelling."
-- gardnertoo, Jun 07 2006


You think it's a joke, but bbc news says: "Google will develop one million square feet of real estate at the Nasa Ames research centre..."(link), Those dudes have the plan!
-- greyfiend, Jun 07 2006



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