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An in-space construction firm says it can help build massive data centers in orbit
(arstechnica.com)
this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2025
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Isn’t it incredibly difficult to shed heat in space since the only real way to move heat is radiation?
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.
If they can turn it into light why not turn it into energy to be used?
If I had to guess, maybe they had a surplus of energy and needed some way to dissipate excess energy. I read the book years ago though, so I don't really remember.
Doesn’t that already happen with infrared radiation?
I suppose so. Maybe the concept could work with other forms of electromagnetic radiation too, and visible light was just the one used in the book. Idk, I'm no physicist 🤷♂️
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.
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.