Space data and stuff

ToughSF wets his blanket to whip us at escape-velocity. The man does use math, which is helpful. But what I see here assumes we build the stuff on Earth.

Side-schemes exist to capture rocks and bring them closer to us, so robots can build the dumber stuff like radiators up there. If we have 14kT in HEO that is 14kT we don't need to schlep from Earth. We just need to schlep a few tonnes of equipment to turn silica and metals into product.

Also: if we have a lunar base (or, better: a long L1 base), we have a lunar base. It does not only have to host a data centre. The base charges the data centre guys and whatever else is being hosted. The L1 base, when we get that, is dangling anhydrous rope to us 60 Mm altitude, further defraying costs of shifting product all up and down the highest HEO ranks.

The real draw of data centres in the GEO-to-HEO space is the sheer SPACE in that in-between. Earth has a surface area of 510,000 km², which we are not carpeting over; and some ocean depth and caves. In the shell between GEO and the end of my dangling tether (and again, I'm a weirdo who thinks we should have that tether) is from 42 Mm to 60 Mm which is a lot more in volume. Yes, LEO has to deal with space junk and rival sats. HEO does not, not at that scale or speed. It only has to consider radiation. Good lord, just sticking these sats in the space between Van Allens would get the job done even without a HEO/lunar industrial base.