TL;DW:
Does It Make Sense To Put Data Centers In Space?
At some point in the future, yes.
Can They Really Cost Less To Operate?
In theory, yes.
Scott expresses concerns that current startups have not adequately addressed some of the practical challenges, such as cooling.
So you’d need to be able to radiate more heat away than you absorb from the sun (and generate from computing). You can reduce sun absorption by being more reflective. For the heat you do absorb and generate, you’ll need to concentrate the heat from all the systems into a radiator that gets very hot. The hotter something is the more it’ll radiate away. It’s hardly a simple design but it’s really the only option.