Comment on An in-space construction firm says it can help build massive data centers in orbit

billwashere@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• percent@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  In the (fiction) novel Artemis by Andy Weir, which takes place in a city on the moon, they have a heat management system that seemed pretty cool. They convert heat to light, and radiate the light out into space. Not sure how feasible/scalable that is, but I thought the concept was cool.

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  • ReasonablePea@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    If they can turn it into light why not turn it into energy to be used?

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    • percent@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      If I had to guess, maybe they already had a surplus of energy. I read the book years ago though, so I don’t really remember.

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  • SpacetimeMachine@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    That’s already how they do it. They pass heat onto radiators which radiate away the excess heat in infrared. It should be noted however that this is far less efficient than it is in an atmosphere.

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  • billwashere@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Doesn’t that already happen with infrared radiation?

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    • percent@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I suppose so. Maybe the concept could work with other forms if electromagnetic radiation, and visible light was just the one used in the book. Idk, I’m no physicist 🤷‍♂️

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• ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  There are some various ways. Radiators can be large and thin, and as long as the heat-sensitive part of the thing is kept cool it doesn’t really matter how hot the rest of it gets.

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