Blue Origins rocket explodes during test

[mike]

I read Elon Musk's aspirations for space travel and colonization with interest but mostly disbelief. The reusable SpaceX rockets are key to making it feasible. One thing that sounds like a great idea to me is space data centers. Nobody wants them in their backyard anyway, so build them out in space where there is unlimited free energy from the sun. Presumably, it's cold enough out there that they wouldn't need water cooling, either?

[JohnH]

I read Elon Musk's aspirations for space travel and colonization with interest but mostly disbelief. The reusable SpaceX rockets are key to making it feasible. One thing that sounds like a great idea to me is space data centers. Nobody wants them in their backyard anyway, so build them out in space where there is unlimited free energy from the sun. Presumably, it's cold enough out there that they wouldn't need water cooling, either?

Ironically, cooling is one of the bigger problems in space, since there is no air and there isn’t exactly any water either. The problems are not impossible to solve though.

The obvious question of Mars is what on earth the purpose is of going there. We haven’t colonised Antarctica or the far north of Canada, which are much more hospitable than Mars.