You can't launch from the US without the federal government giving you permission. And SpaceX does not have (nor are they planning) any launch pads outside the US. [And because of ITAR, I'm not even sure they'd be allowed to build one.]
However, I do think avoiding local control (state/city permits) is a reason for this.
As long as the company has a HQ and owners that care about their quality of life, they don’t really gain any extra safety by moving their hardware to space compared to keeping it where they are based.
Did anyone at and point say it's technically impossible? There's been computers in space since the 60s after all.
It's just far out research experiment like another commented quoted from the text: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49834746
There are multiple people in these comments saying it's impossible.
You need to hang out at ArsTechnica more.
But even in this comment stream there are tons of people saying the cooling problem is insurmountable.
oh forgot about ars. a very cynical crowd
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I think one of the reasons for putting these in space is to move them beyond the borders of any national control.
You can't launch from the US without the federal government giving you permission. And SpaceX does not have (nor are they planning) any launch pads outside the US. [And because of ITAR, I'm not even sure they'd be allowed to build one.]
However, I do think avoiding local control (state/city permits) is a reason for this.
Rocket Lab has launch pads in New Zealand.
> (nor are they planning)
Not true
What does it matter where physically computers are located? If the owners can be imprisoned in US, the will cooperate with US government.
Surely if this were the reason, you'd just put it in international waters?
As long as the company has a HQ and owners that care about their quality of life, they don’t really gain any extra safety by moving their hardware to space compared to keeping it where they are based.
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You don't think Google has a self-interest in this? Google up how many shares of spacex are held by Alphabet.
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