I've been hearing a lot of talk about using satellites for data processing lately. The benefit is better energy generation as I have understood it. But isn't there a problem in that satelites are bad at expelling excess heat, since they can only do so passively?
Data processing in space can be useful, albeit not in the way that Musk seems to sell it. I spoke with some people from a space startup (edgx) at a jobfair in Belgium half a year ago.
Their thing was that they did some data processing in space to cut down on bandwidth (so this is specifically for applications where satellites are a necessary component). I also remember specifically asking them about cosmic rays and they told me it's definitely manageable because their computers fly in LEO. (They already have a computer in space)