Scribble Hub Forum

It's hot? I'd expect an empty void to be the coldest thing to ever touch my buttcheeks

I only thought it was hot near stars, otherwise it was very cold. I guess the engines of a spaceship would require some sort of cooling though.

Space itself is probably cold, but I think heat is like a smol mechanical vibration, so vaccuum cannot conduct heat. In space, you can exchange energy through radiation like the infrared emission of black body but blasting some disco lights sounds way better

Because there's little narrative point in addressing a problem that already has solutions which barely affect the people using it?
-unless you're talking about mock schematics, but those I know seem to abstract from technicalities in general.

@Zirrboy oh no, this problem doesn't have solutions that 'barely affect' the people using it. Losing your radiators is a death sentence for any spacecraft, i'll say there's plenty of narrative point in getting your thermal budget screwed and subsequently cooked alive.

@Prince_Azmiran_Myrian kinda of on the right track - everything requires cooling, even if you threw your desktop computer up into space. Not necessary to have engines running, simple idle computers will cook you inside too if you don't manage your thermal budget.

@owotrucked correct, which also means none of your components can lose heat as fast as they do in atmosphere.

It barely affects the people using it when it works as intended, and spelling death if compromised is true for almost all parts of a spacecraft.

I'm not saying it'd be wrong to use, I just don't see how they're so unique taking general life support or what have you to get the "we're dead in x time" you want would be worse yet.

@Zirrboy ok. Radiators can change your surface area or cross section of a spacecraft up to 200% or even more (see ISV Venture from Avatar) so it affects the people using it when it works as intended. Just by virtue of them being there.

So visually you are already more visible, but space is big right?

@Zirrboy Radiators also releases heat, which gives away thermal radiation or heat signatures, making your ship harder to conceal. Affects the people using it when it works as intended.

Then you have atmospheric drag on the radiators if the spaceship has them wide open. Imagine orbit to surface ships. Affects the people using it when it works as intended. Dont forget drag still exists beyond the space line.

There's also solar pressure that can push the spacecraft if you're fairly close. Again, radiators increase the push you feel due to cross section. Affects the people using it when it works as intended

So many battles and so many actions at stake when you take into account thermal budget, and surprisingly thermal budget is not life support - weapons cant operate effectively at high temperatures too.

It can totally be used as a narrative tool, but i guess most writers just don't want to focus on such aspects, which is also fine. The only people who care are those who actually know the science, even then it is science fiction, who knows what advanced tech exists but is clearly implausible.

Yea im down for dimensional heat sinks and all too. Hell i've seen FTL drives used to open mini wormholes in order to remove heat or something -that works too.