Topic: Lets put bitcoin in space. A mining satellite for $8000 - page 2. (Read 5028 times)

Even with an emissivity of 1, do you know how hot that Avalon heatsink would have to get to dissipate 150W radiatively?

Would be useful to get some estimates, like what sort of power we could generate up there, if an unfolding solar array is at all realistic (price wise),  costs for launching for various orbits and sat sizes etc. Just ball park figures would be great.

Not that I think I will be promoting this as an actual project, better to have someone who knows at least something about space. If the shoe fits...

Ahem. We could put it on one of these: http://www.nanosatisfi.com/

Wouldn't get much computing power - but a nanosat is the best way to go.

FYI, I'm a bit of a space geek - let me know if you're actually serious about this and I can get some costings

R

Cooling used to be a problem, back in the 60's and 70's. But then someone (I've personally met, BTW) invented the 3-axis stabilised bus and mounted a black body radiator on the opposite to the sun side. Problem solved.

So, if one takes one of the Avalon modules aluminium radiators (ask nicely, admit that they design is sufficient), chemically blackens it (increase surface), and then mounts it on the opposite to the sun side of the cooler-box contraption, it should work.

But still, the more difficult thing to do is to convince Elon Muck to donate +/- 50kg payload space...

Cooling is a *massive* problem in space. The two most effective ways of getting rid of heat, convection and conduction, are essentially impossible in space.

It is doable, I agree, but for not for $8,000, more like $500,000.

Unless...

As a first step, look-up Elon Musk, then get him on board to donate (invest into) some 50kg payload space on one of his rockets. That will sort the issue with the $500,000

Second step, pack one large cooler box with (1) 1 x BLF single, (2) 1 x Iridium communicator module running port of cgminer, (3) 150 x AHR32113 cells, (4) 16 x PV cells, laminated into a folded array (use old umbrella mechanism to unfold  , (5) 1 x quad solar tracker to correct for minute deviation of position, estimated life +/- 5 years, but one may get lucky, (6) 1 x omnidirectional Iridium antenna.

Third and last step, put the cooler box into even larger cooler box (to protect from micro-meteorites and high-velocity space-dust), wrap everything with number of layers of aluminium sheet (to protect from radiation).

Don't forget to  install the Iridium antenna outside, otherwise one will struggle to communicate with the contraption.

Should work.

If Elon Musk feels you, or if you can raise BTC2,000 (at the current rate), it is.

A satellite is not out of reach of government since they already have assets in space that could blow them out of the sky if they choose to.

This started as a joke, but when researching it a bit further, it actually seems like it could be doable.

Lets put a bitcoin  satellite in to space!

Somewhere out of reach of governments, where solar energy is abundant and cooling may not be a problem (not actually sure about the latter lol).

Of course, the idea is not for this to be a profitable mining enterprise, it would be first and foremost a fantastic publicity stunt. Unaffordable? not so sure, have a look here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/cheap-space-satellites/story?id=17165740

$8,000 and that includes putting it in orbit. I suspect we might get that sort of money on kickstarter, particularly with a few corporate sponsors, like say BFL. Wouldnt they love to have one of their asics orbiting earth? Imagine the press this could generate!

There are some caveats, but none too serious I think. current asics wouldnt be radiation hardened. They will get destroyed by cosmic radiation if not properly shielded (and possibly even if shielded). So it may not last 10 years, it might even break a lot faster than that, but thats ok I think. If it lasts only a few months, its mission accomplished as far as Im concerned. edit: apparently for the above price, you get so low orbit it will only last a few weeks anyway. Oh well..

It would have to connect to the internet. I have no idea how to do that in practice. We would need only a tiny bit of bandwidth, but you do need a permanent uplink. anyone have a clue how to do that and what it would cost?

Then there is the building of satellite itself. Probably not something we should do in our backyard shed, but the above price seems to include the cost of building one. A bitcoin mining satellite with a few low clocked asics is probably about as simple as it gets, assuming you dont want to generate 1000s of watts.

Thoughts?