Advanced Heat Management Concepts

Advanced Heat Management Concepts — Terra Invicta technology. Scientists consider novel ways of containing and removing waste heat from our spacecraft.

About Advanced Heat Management Concepts

Advanced Heat Management Concepts is a Terra Invicta technology in SpaceScience with a research cost of 2,500.

Scientists consider novel ways of containing and removing waste heat from our spacecraft.

One cannot simply open a window while on a spaceship. As such, there is no simple way of releasing the accumulated heat of several dozen human bodies and countless computer systems, reactors and weapons - but if it is not removed, anyone onboard will soon die of extreme heat prostration, while the ship itself will ultimately melt. Conduction, convection or radiation are the only possible means of thermal energy transfer, and of those only radiation is currently feasible within the empty vacuum of space. This means radiators, but unfortunately that means bulk, which is itself deeply undesirable. However, liquid droplet radiators appear to be the answer we need. By replacing a solid surface radiator with one that sprays cooling droplets (which are then recaptured and reused) across large, thin radiators, we can reduce the mass from approximately 1300kg to under 100 kg. This does require special liquids with a vapor pressure so low that they can resist evaporation before recapturing, but our latest breakthroughs in this field have resulted in droplet supplies that will last several decades before needing to be replaced. Meanwhile, theoretical future nano-materials will ultimately reduce both the size and the mass of the radiators.

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