Comment by lesuorac
1 day ago
YouTube is probably one of the few companies that could benefit from data centers in space.
Rather than co-locating media servers into ISPs you can stick them into space so they're just closer.
Space in NYC isn't cheap. Space in space is free.
If a data centre is in space, its almost always going to be further away than a data centre on Earth.
Most people in the developed world are probably under 500km away from the nearest data centre, with most connections being established over fibre.
A space DC would require wireless communications, over longer distances. The latency is higher. Not to mention, Jitter, Latency and Packet Loss are pretty consequential to video streaming, specifically real time or live broadcasts.
> Space in NYC isn't cheap. Space in space is free.
... what?
Say what you want about starship etc etc, but space in space is far from free and will be for a long time.
Who do you pay rent to in space?
Space is free; you don't even pay property taxes.
Transportation costs are not but that's the whole reason you invest into (at the time) a space transportation company.
You can't just get something to space and then leave it there for free. Any maintenance is way more expensive than a data center on the ground (be it via extra trips or extra R&D for autonomous operating).
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