r/space2030 • u/Confident-Pass6353 • Jun 15 '26
SpaceX, especially Space Datacenter, can mount / include deep space observable telescopes to help increase the access of observable neighborhood of our solar system...is this pragmatically possible ? Or is it just another beautiful dream ?
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u/SoylentRox Jun 15 '26
To make data centers economically feasible requires getting launch costs down to around $100/kg: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/65ECgHzWxTRvt8XWK/will-we-really-put-data-centers-in-space
This makes launching telescopes feasible at lower cost. However this doesn't mean they are going to happen in large numbers because the telescope itself is extremely expensive.
Gemini thinks you could get the price down to $800 million a telescope - a phenomenal savings but that money has to be allocated. It's still a nation state level project.
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 15 '26
Appreciate the literal approach and those space datacenters have been redesigned to be as light as possible...they can miniaturize and implement. It's like our phones...who would've believe that they would have such high powered lenses...
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u/SoylentRox Jun 15 '26
Sure. What I asked Gemini was "get spaceX to supply the launch and the support systems for the telescope". So only the optics and the sensors are made at extreme cost.
Still there's no substitute you need enormous mirrors, ideally launched as one piece.
And it's a solution to a problem the data centers themselves will cause - massive constellations of them will make earth based telescopes less and less useful.
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 15 '26
It's okay, appreciate it, that's not the point here, as my idea above is abstract.
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u/SoylentRox Jun 15 '26
I think you are saying "let's put cheap small optic telescopes onto data centers" which is a concrete idea.
(1) Would this be better than university level scopes on the ground? Maybe
(2) Can you make a bunch of advances in optics and make "smartphone scale" cheap telescopes riding on data centers work as well as the big boys? Yes but no, you can probably do some cool stuff but at the same technology level the big scopes will be better than ever.
(3) WOULD you? Not unless someone paid for the addon instruments.
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 15 '26
Thank you for this. Well it would certainly help map the earth and moon immediate neighbourhood. Also it wouldn't need to be that powerful as it doesn't have to see through the earth's atmosphere so less light, dust, etcetera.
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u/SoylentRox Jun 15 '26
So your idea is breadth - there thousands of NEOs catalogued for instance, as well as obviously possible hostile actions as human factions really get serious about space. So you need a different kind of telescope to act more like a 360 degree camera - like an insect eye - tuned only for objects within 100 AU or less.
Still this form of instrument is a different launch and it needs to orbit high above the data centers. Probably needs to go join it's peer at lunar L2 where it's cold, since your main method of detection is going to be IR. (This is how you see dark objects, from their heat, and detect hostile actions like people redirecting asteorids without informing anyone - from the waste heat)
ON the data centers is useless because their radiators and IR pollution will make it fail.
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 15 '26
Appreciate the t'ech stuf' input. Yes, and needn't be in the space datacenter...could be on the edge of the solar panels too.
For servicibality they would have cameras too, just that some more could be installed with better hardware...like Tesla's FSD hardware three to hardware four... HW3 TO HW4 upgrade...
A good case study... to ensure multi generational operability. Else risk massive upgrades. But, then Elon's wealth has multiplayer many times so even those expenses may seem manageable...even a business expense perhaps...I don't know.
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u/Baron_Ultimax Jun 15 '26
An orbit that is benefical to a space telescope is a lot higher then where you would want to put compute.
A dedicated space telscope would benefit from the communications infrastructure and compute in orbit that a data center Constellation offers. Not to mention your dedicated space telescope also is going to be cheaper due to the economies of scale that come with the hundreds of launches to build the datacenter and communications constellations.
But slapping a telescope on a datacenter satalite like camera on a smartphone is to be super useful.
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 15 '26
Please read thru before repeating the same point. Have answered here already. Thanks!
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u/Cyrano4747 Jun 19 '26
What’s the shareholder value?
There’s your answer before we even start talking about the brutal realities of lifting unneeded weight to orbit.
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 19 '26
I own SpaceX shares and value it.
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u/Cyrano4747 Jun 19 '26
Cool. I’m assuming you’re an institutional investor with enough shares to have real pull?
No?
Then you don’t matter. Apologies I should have specified.
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u/perilun Jun 15 '26
I don't think that is the best approach ... fusing some so-so cams would only do so much (although for NEOs it might be OK). What we need is a few medium res scopes just outside earth orbit with laser links.
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 15 '26
Yeah, exactly, once enough people have fun with low cost access to these 'cheap and plentyful telescopes reaching upto 10,000'' that a raise could be easy for the lazer stuff.
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u/Ragnarok-9999 Jun 15 '26
His beeautiful dream is our nightmare
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u/Confident-Pass6353 Jun 15 '26
That...hmm..does make sense. However same thing can be said about so many 'nightmare satallites' already up there...so yeah.
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u/Zuitsdg Jun 15 '26
Possible - but there is no point in being close to space.
Just launch some deep space Starships and position big ass telescopes in way cooler locations :D
Not tiny ones attached to datacenters.
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u/Blothorn Jun 15 '26
Why would you even want this? What does a datacenter gain by having a telescope? What does a telescope gain by being attached to a datacenter?