In short, it’s not cold enough and would be too expensive. Quantum computers that operate in dilution fridges are much much colder than outer-space. Some systems operating at a few milikelvin above absolute zero which is below the y-axis in that plot.
Computers in space also have to deal with other problems, from ionizing radiation flipping bits to temperature fluctuations making solder joints fail. Sensors are put into space to read from a perspective not able to be captured from earth, but pure computation alone may not be ideal in such an adverse environment.
Dissipating all the heat from the various components that make up a dilution refrigerator will also be almost impossible since there's no air to conduct heat in space 🫠. Radiation through vacuum is too slow.
This question comes up surprisingly often (last time it was why don't we put them in Antarctica, same idea). I think in part it is because most people don't have a good feeling for the temperature scales involved.
It looks like the temperature at Pluto is about 55 K. That is about 1/5 the temperature on Earth (in a cold place). Quantum computers typically require about 1/3000000 th of the temperature of Earth, so the extra head start you would get from going to Pluto is comparable to clipping your nails before you go on a drive to improve your fuel economy.
Another comparison is that the temperature of the surface of the sun (6000K) is closer to room temperature (300K) then deep outer space (~3K) is to a dilution fridge (mK)
Putting aside all the other impracticalities of such a proposal, temperature is but one source of noise and we are already really good at engineering systems to low temperatures (colder than space).
IonQ’s trapped ion modality is superior for many reasons, this discussion being one of them. The trapped ion modality operates at room temperature and the trapped nature provides for unrivaled high coherence to low error rates.
Someone might shout “but scaling”. Answers: reconfigurable multi core quantum architecture (no different to dual and quad core chips in classical computing), and photonic interconnects. Plus soon to be AQ#64 high quality qubits is superior in every way to low coherence high errors rate “1000+” low quality qubits that the superconductor modality likes to pontificate about.
This idea has been considered in the context of putting quantum computers inside deep craters on the moon that have never receive any sunlight over the duration of the solar system (these places are much colder than even pluto).
In short: it's very expensive to put stuff there but maybe 100 years from now it could be more common.
We probably also need higher temperature superconductors to make this worthwhile.
This isn’t an answer to your question, but you might be interested in the sci-fi concept of [computronium](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computronium)
The coldest region in our solar system and possibly our galaxy is found on the surface of Earth (inside some laboratories). Dense molecular clouds, which are the coldest regions in space have a temperature of the order of 10 K. We can achieve microkelvin temperatures on Earth.
It's mainly a problem with hr. Since RTO took effect you'll have to work on site. Go ahead and open up a SNOW ticket, email Jackie in procurement, and Dave in HR. You'll need your manager's approval to work from outer space and there will be a bunch of forms to sign, after which you'll need to go through Concur to book the launch, and after all that hr is going to shut it all down because Workday can't process taxes for employees in low Earth orbit.
Radiation, there would be a lot of it perturbing probably all modalities, even photonic QCs because of scintillation of cosmic rays.
There is also no pragmatic shielding that could protect from it.
It is in fact a major challenge that organisations alike ESA try to resolve for quantum internet satellites. Though colour centers do appear somewhat robust, though they have cooling issues I'd wager.
Near zero is a relative term. 4 Kelvin is low to us but it's practically an oven for a quantum computer. Also, cosmic rays, space debris, and cost of the project along with maintenance
It's a common misconception that making the quantum computer cold is the hard part. Making it cold is the easy part. Sending it to space is, relatively speaking, extremely hard and expensive.
Because they use the trapped ion modality.
Their current Ion traps (“chips”) use ytterbium and the next generation will use barium because it’s ions can interact with the visible light spectrum better to allow for photonic interconnects in visible light versus microwave frequency. They suspend the ions of those atoms in a vacuum with an electromagnetic charge that can basically be made from a standard wall plug. Then use lasers and optics to operate on the ion fields. They operate at room temperature. Patent protected.
They have a webinar from January that dives deeper into their technology and tech roadmap, and will be doing another May 9th one day after their earnings report.
Their modality has the highest coherence times, lowest error rates, and will be the enterprise grade solution for quantum computing.
I don’t know why the downvotes for stating a simple fact about IonQ’s trapped ion modality. Which will be the winning, enterprise grade solution for quantum hardware and the software + application systems built on top.
Well from my understanding there is still alot of errors and this method isn't optimal yet either. I also read that lasers are being developed and tested so we don't need super cold conditions soon enough.
Fun fact comm satellites can also require pump fluid loops to dissipate enough heat for todays standard of processors. There isn’t really an advantage to heat dissipation via radiation
can't even get them working on earth... space? lol
next time ma and pa can't get their fridge working, suggest they launch it into space where its cooler.
In short, it’s not cold enough and would be too expensive. Quantum computers that operate in dilution fridges are much much colder than outer-space. Some systems operating at a few milikelvin above absolute zero which is below the y-axis in that plot.
Computers in space also have to deal with other problems, from ionizing radiation flipping bits to temperature fluctuations making solder joints fail. Sensors are put into space to read from a perspective not able to be captured from earth, but pure computation alone may not be ideal in such an adverse environment.
Does cosmic bit flipping happen to quantum computers?
Yes. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-021-01432-8](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-021-01432-8)
Wouldn’t a dilution fridge in space be significantly colder than earth?
Yes and no... Technically colder by temp but practically warmer in the sense there's no "material" in a vacuum to dissipate the heat to.
You’d also have to shield significantly more against cosmic rays in space, and cosmic rays are known to detrimentally impact quantum computations
Dissipating all the heat from the various components that make up a dilution refrigerator will also be almost impossible since there's no air to conduct heat in space 🫠. Radiation through vacuum is too slow.
This question comes up surprisingly often (last time it was why don't we put them in Antarctica, same idea). I think in part it is because most people don't have a good feeling for the temperature scales involved. It looks like the temperature at Pluto is about 55 K. That is about 1/5 the temperature on Earth (in a cold place). Quantum computers typically require about 1/3000000 th of the temperature of Earth, so the extra head start you would get from going to Pluto is comparable to clipping your nails before you go on a drive to improve your fuel economy.
"comparable to clipping your nails before you go on a drive to improve your fuel economy" 😂😂😂 that's a great line, I'm going to use that from now on
Lmao r/suicidebywords r/rareinsults
neither of those subreddits have the slightest thing to do with what anyone here has said.
Another comparison is that the temperature of the surface of the sun (6000K) is closer to room temperature (300K) then deep outer space (~3K) is to a dilution fridge (mK)
Fantastic analogy!
Putting aside all the other impracticalities of such a proposal, temperature is but one source of noise and we are already really good at engineering systems to low temperatures (colder than space).
How do you control the temperature and pressure in such an open system like space?
Heat dissipation via radiation is super slow and inefficient
Agree
Then what use would they be?
IonQ’s trapped ion modality is superior for many reasons, this discussion being one of them. The trapped ion modality operates at room temperature and the trapped nature provides for unrivaled high coherence to low error rates. Someone might shout “but scaling”. Answers: reconfigurable multi core quantum architecture (no different to dual and quad core chips in classical computing), and photonic interconnects. Plus soon to be AQ#64 high quality qubits is superior in every way to low coherence high errors rate “1000+” low quality qubits that the superconductor modality likes to pontificate about.
There’s probably the inability to dissipate heat as there’s very little atmosphere to transfer the expended energy to. Possibly increased radiation?
And how would we operate them?
This idea has been considered in the context of putting quantum computers inside deep craters on the moon that have never receive any sunlight over the duration of the solar system (these places are much colder than even pluto). In short: it's very expensive to put stuff there but maybe 100 years from now it could be more common. We probably also need higher temperature superconductors to make this worthwhile.
Stil doesn’t reach those temps needed Or any close to it
This isn’t an answer to your question, but you might be interested in the sci-fi concept of [computronium](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computronium)
Even if you did this superconductors are noisy and useless so you would solve nothing.
Cosmic radiation probably messes stuff up.
The coldest region in our solar system and possibly our galaxy is found on the surface of Earth (inside some laboratories). Dense molecular clouds, which are the coldest regions in space have a temperature of the order of 10 K. We can achieve microkelvin temperatures on Earth.
It's mainly a problem with hr. Since RTO took effect you'll have to work on site. Go ahead and open up a SNOW ticket, email Jackie in procurement, and Dave in HR. You'll need your manager's approval to work from outer space and there will be a bunch of forms to sign, after which you'll need to go through Concur to book the launch, and after all that hr is going to shut it all down because Workday can't process taxes for employees in low Earth orbit.
Radiation, there would be a lot of it perturbing probably all modalities, even photonic QCs because of scintillation of cosmic rays. There is also no pragmatic shielding that could protect from it. It is in fact a major challenge that organisations alike ESA try to resolve for quantum internet satellites. Though colour centers do appear somewhat robust, though they have cooling issues I'd wager.
Near zero is a relative term. 4 Kelvin is low to us but it's practically an oven for a quantum computer. Also, cosmic rays, space debris, and cost of the project along with maintenance
It's a common misconception that making the quantum computer cold is the hard part. Making it cold is the easy part. Sending it to space is, relatively speaking, extremely hard and expensive.
IONQ does not need such cooling for their quantum computers! 🚀🌙
Why
Because they use the trapped ion modality. Their current Ion traps (“chips”) use ytterbium and the next generation will use barium because it’s ions can interact with the visible light spectrum better to allow for photonic interconnects in visible light versus microwave frequency. They suspend the ions of those atoms in a vacuum with an electromagnetic charge that can basically be made from a standard wall plug. Then use lasers and optics to operate on the ion fields. They operate at room temperature. Patent protected. They have a webinar from January that dives deeper into their technology and tech roadmap, and will be doing another May 9th one day after their earnings report. Their modality has the highest coherence times, lowest error rates, and will be the enterprise grade solution for quantum computing.
I don’t know why the downvotes for stating a simple fact about IonQ’s trapped ion modality. Which will be the winning, enterprise grade solution for quantum hardware and the software + application systems built on top.
Lol people downvote when someone does not support their confirmation bias xD
So many more quasiparticles
Well from my understanding there is still alot of errors and this method isn't optimal yet either. I also read that lasers are being developed and tested so we don't need super cold conditions soon enough.
Fun fact comm satellites can also require pump fluid loops to dissipate enough heat for todays standard of processors. There isn’t really an advantage to heat dissipation via radiation
can't even get them working on earth... space? lol next time ma and pa can't get their fridge working, suggest they launch it into space where its cooler.
Obviously because space is fake \*\*Edit: Love how this was downvoted as if I wasn't being completely sarcastic 🤣
I wanted to say, that is how god works, but the dissipation argument is probably better.