OK, sometimes you have to fight the odds, push technology to the limit to make the unimaginable possible to achieve something great.
But I still do net see the benefit of putting data centers into space. Even after solving all those problems that are mentioned by the article, what is the upside compared to just building a data center with solar panels and a big battery down on earth? Even powering them with gas turbines seems to be more environment friendly and cost efficient than shooting thousands of rockets into space and have the data centers burn up in the atmosphere after 6 years.
The answer seems to be the same for many space ventures: “because we can”.
The article claims it is to test how computer chips function in space but, we’ve been sending computer chips into space for like 100 years, and the Earth’s orbit is practically littered with them now, so I think we have a good idea.