[PLUG] Server Sky

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

On Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 8:44 PM, Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com> wrote:
> I got an idea about a month ago that can change the world.  I
> am starting to build a community around it.  It is far enough
> along to involve local volunteers.  If things work out, this
> could provide thousands of jobs in the Portland area, bring
> internet service to the world, save gigawatts of power
> generation, and eventually replace most of the electric
> power generation on earth.  A major game changer.
>
> The idea is an enormous array of orbiting satellites that are
> little more than a naked solar cell with processor chips,
> memory chips, and radio chips hung around the edge.  These
> "server-sats" will be about 40 cm across, thinner than a
> sheet of paper, and weigh perhaps 30 grams (2 grams is
> possible).  They can be launched in stacks of 33,000 ,
> perhaps 4 stacks to a launch, and deployed in arrays.  They
> turn solar power into computation and communication to the
> ground.  Transmitting as a phased array, they can communicate
> with multiple small regions on the ground, more like cell
> phones than sat-phones.
>
> As outlandish as it sounds, it appears that the system can be
> built and launched for less than $500 US per server-sat, and
> pay for itself relative to ground based server farms through
> electricity and backhaul savings alone - each one saves about
> 100W of ground based power, and lots of infrastructure.  Local
> businesses such as SolarWorld, Intel, Triquint, Maxim, Sharp,
> Merix, D.W. Fritz, and others could build just about everything
> but the rocket and the satellite container it is deployed from
> (Boeing?).
>
> See http://www.server-sky.com .  It's a wiki, and I'm looking
> for positive contributions.  Mostly I am looking for folks to
> help with the software, simulations, animations, game design,
> etc.  If you can handle algebra-level math, and have good
> "spatial" imagination, you can probably help.  Heck, if you
> can understand server sky well enough to answer questions,
> you could be a big help.  I can even use linguists to help
> name things - good names will make it easier to explain and
> help sell the idea to investors.
>
> Longer term, server sky can beam power to the ground, not just
> petabits/second of data.  It and be launched by, and provide
> power for, systems far more thrifty and environmentally benign
> than rockets (see, for example, http://www.launchloop.com).
>
> The idea is still in its infancy, but it is showing signs of
> surviving to adulthood.  Since I don't expect to "own" it,  I
> want to crowd-source the conceptual design,  and in a few months
> build the core team that does the real design out of the best
> volunteers.  There are still a lot of problems to solve, but most
> of the things that I thought would be difficult (space radiation
> resistance, space junk avoidance, and phased array grating lobes,
> for example) have easy solutions.  With enough people helping, I
> hope to have enough public domain solutions for all the obvious
> problems that the idea won't be held hostage by patent trolls.
>
> I plan to give a presentation on this to Linuxfest in late
> April, but I hope to have an alpha version of the presentation
> ready in a week or two, perhaps for a PLUG meeting, perhaps
> at a special event.  But besides sharing this with a few
> dozen friends, this is the first public announcement, because
> the Portland open source community has the right talents and
> values to bring this to fruition.
>
> I am very busy, mostly getting more stuff ready for the wiki.
> If you have questions, please read what is on the wiki first.
> If you see a question on the site or on this mailing list that
> you can come up with an answer for, please answer it for me,
> and add it to the wiki.  Together we can change the world with
> this.  Perhaps even the universe.
>
> Keith

Wow! I'm not quite sure what to think about this, but, since we don't
have a topic for Advanced Topics this month, perhaps we could discuss
this over beers / coffees at a local pub. Meanwhile, am I correct in
my belief that tomorrow is Clinic Day from 13:00 -- 17:00 at FreeGeek
much closer to sea level?

-- 
M. Edward (Ed) Borasky
http://www.linkedin.com/in/edborasky

I've never met a happy clam. In fact, most of them were pretty steamed.