You can only cool by radiation in space. You may get more energy from the sun but how are you going to get rid of all the heat fast enough?
You can only cool by radiation in space. You may get more energy from the sun but how are you going to get rid of all the heat fast enough?
How hot do you think black objects in space get? Something like 10°C. Look up thermal equilibrium of an ideal black body.
In the vicinity of the Earth, they get to about the temperature of the Earth. That’s not a coincidence. Hotter if they are actively generating heat.
So you can have datacenters in space, you are just not allowed to use them
Not using them would also solve all issues with cosmic radiation.
Nobody (sane) is talking about putting nuclear reactors on Satellites in close Earth orbit so we don't have to worry about them generating heat. They've got solar panels that move some of the solar energy they absorb to a central location which presents problems in moving the waste heat back out so that spot doesn't get too hot. But that doesn't change the overall equilibrium temperature.
But are they doing work internally that generates heat? Genuine question.
They are. But only as much heat as they get from the solar radiation that's hitting them anyway. Exactly that amount.