Putting a million solar panels 22,000 miles above Earth to collect continuous sunlight might sound like a good idea, until you remember that batteries exist. A Dollar-Store Dyson Sphere is an expensive, complicated solution in search of a problem.
Source: simon_ritchie2000
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From Bloomberg Opinion (gift link above):
“A Dyson Sphere is a theoretical structure built around a star to tap all of its energy. It’s pure science fiction. But our Big Tech overlords seem determined to build a Dollar-Store Dyson Sphere around Earth, surrounding it with enough orbiting solar panels and data centers to blot out the stars.
“In theory, a Dyson Sphere is evidence of a highly advanced civilization. In our reality, the Dollar-Store Dyson Sphere suggests our civilization might be making too many expensive, complicated solutions for problems that don’t really exist.”
“Dollar Store Dyson Sphere” is an outstanding term that I will probably use for the next 20 years in discussing space solar (for surface use, power those stations and satellites up there for sure).
You know what else exists? Tides.
They are rightfully skeptical but this isn’t a terrible move. The deal indicates that is a bet on the future. Sending solar panels into space has been considered for many decades and there a few plausible designs that could work safely and effectively. Getting all the materials into space has never been remotely achievable but that could change.
It’s also tacitly implying space data centers are still ridiculous. A space data center requires not only solar panels, but the actual data center and all the heat dissipation. Meta is betting that we can maybe solve step 1 in the next 5-10 years. Certainly puts the timing for step 2 and 3 much further back.