Elon Musk revealed the future of quantum computing will be on the Moon's permanently shadowed craters

X ^ | 02/13/2026 | X Freeze

[SmokingJoe]

Elon Musk revealed the future of quantum computing will be on the Moon's permanently shadowed craters

Quantum computing need extreme cold and near-perfect isolation to work

The Moon’s permanently shadowed craters offer exactly that

- Temperatures stay below −200°C, keeping qubits stable without massive Earth-based cooling systems

- No atmosphere, no weather, no day–night cycles. Hardware stays in a steady, undisturbed state

- No air, no vibrations, no human electromagnetic noise - meaning quantum information survives longer with fewer errors

The Moon is not just for exploration It is actually a perfect home for the future of computing

[TexasGator]

“The cryocooler on the James Webb Space Telescope needs around 300 watts of power to lift 55 mW of heat from 6.2K to a hot side temperature of around 300 K, which is about 80° F.”

As before, that statement shows your misunderstanding of the material you just googled.

The JWST cryocooler does not raise the helium temperature to 300 K.

The JWST helium shroud uses passive cooling to bring temperatures downt to less than 40 K. Some sources say 32 K.

The cryocooler only has do work below 40 K.

[TheRake]

The heat can be dissipated into the ground.

…

Then we have global warming, damn! lol!

[GOPJ]

Are you saying old vacumn tube radios would heat up? And that old vacumn tube computers took an army to change out burned out tubes?

[Steely Tom]

Are you saying old vacumn tube radios would heat up? And that old vacumn tube computers took an army to change out burned out tubes?

I actually walked around inside an old vacuum tube computer, the ANFSQ-7. When I was six, and again when I was nine or ten.

Each one had around 60,000 vacuum tubes. They needed a huge air conditioning plant to keep them cool. When you were inside the machine, the biggest thing you heard was rushing air. I remember being told that if the air conditioning failed, the mainframe room would become uninhabitable in two minutes. In hindsight that seems a bit of an exaggeration, but I don't know. According to Google AI, each ANFSQ-7 consumed 3MW of power, and there were two of them in each installation, one operational, the other on standby.

Each installation (the system was called SAGE) had its own power plant, with four or five big Diesel-powered generators, and a set of counter-flow cooling towers to reject the waste heat.

So they generated the 3MWe necessary to power each of the computers, and in addition the electricity to power the air conditioners to get rid of all the heat. Pretty amazing.

Each one got a kerosene delivery three times a week, IIRC. One of those airport-type fuel trucks.

[jonrick46]

If you think charged dust particles will threaten mega computer operation, technology used to keep microprocessor production clean is a reliable procedure that will eliminate these dust particles.

[GOPJ]

I actually walked around inside an old vacuum tube computer, the ANFSQ-7. When I was six, and again when I was nine or ten. Each one had around 60,000 vacuum tubes. They needed a huge air conditioning plant to keep them cool. When you were inside the machine, the biggest thing you heard was rushing air. I remember being told that if the air conditioning failed, the mainframe room would become uninhabitable in two minutes. In hindsight that seems a bit of an exaggeration, but I don't know. According to Google AI, each ANFSQ-7 consumed 3MW of power, and there were two of them in each installation, one operational, the other on standby.

Each installation (the system was called SAGE) had its own power plant, with four or five big Diesel-powered generators, and a set of counter-flow cooling towers to reject the waste heat. So they generated the 3MWe necessary to power each of the computers, and in addition the electricity to power the air conditioners to get rid of all the heat. Pretty amazing.

Very cool story - thanks for sharing Tom...