We already radiate heat away just fine in space, it’s just a matter of how much space do you need to use to do it and all the implications of what that would mean for any given satellite. I wouldn’t call it free, because you need the hardware to do it and the extra weight reduces the payload capacity of whatever you’re sending up, but we can do it. Starlink also uses laser links to talk to each other which these satellites would also use. So you go up from land, bounce around with lasers in space until you’re close to your ground station, then come back to earth and route to your home. Fiber is still the better option on land if you can get it there, but there are a lot of places it’s never going to get laid.

Plugging it into this formula: projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/heatrad.php I get a circular radiator at least a kilometer wide, assuming the radiator is quite efficient, a rather modest datacenter, and very hot coolant (70C). …Realistically, the coolant temperature would need to be much lower, and dissipate much more, so the area gets very large real quick. I cannot emphasize how expensive a functional 2km+ radiator would be in space. It’s mind bogglingly expensive.