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I love this concept. Sure, it'll never be a significant source of energy [if we plastered literally the entire earth's surface with them at maximum theoretical

I love this concept. Sure, it'll never be a significant source of energy [if we plastered literally the entire earth's surface with them at maximum theoretical efficiency, we'd provide 1% of our electricity consumption]. But the sheer concept of "you know what, lets generate energy from THE VOID OF SPACE, the ABSENCE OF HEAT" is deeply entertaining.

TeMPOraL 7y ago
I had this weird, uncanny moment when I first realized that atmosphere being transparent at some infrared bands means a device exploiting this is literally cooled as if it was exposed to interplanetary space. It looks into the abyss.
- jngreenlee 7y ago
  You can have a fun and cool similar effect if you get a $10 infrared thermometer (I would say one with a laser for helping to point it). Useful for cooking and food safety. But then...go outside a night and point it first at the ground, then at any clouds, and then right up into darkness. You'll see a big drop in temperature, which is the absence of heat energy in the atmosphere itself...all the way out into space. I believe that the sensor has some type of angle to what it can detect, so you're getting the average reading across a large cone of air/space at that point. Also, the radiated heat along the depth of the cone would be "stacked", so that you are viewing a 'cumulative' reading from the entire depths of that cone, like an integral going into space.
  - ghego1 7y ago
    So what happens if you point it to the sun during daytime?
    - Dylan16807 7y ago
      Youtube says you get about 350F. The sun's angle is probably too small for a proper reading. (And you get something like -15F for daytime sky.)
jandrese 7y ago
Spacecraft already need large radiators to keep from overheating, so you could theoretically use this to generate a bit of power in the process, especially if it means reducing the amount of battery you need for when you go into the shade of a planet/moon/etc... In practical terms it probably isn't efficient enough to be worth the weight, but the idea is neat nonetheless.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

I had this weird, uncanny moment when I first realized that atmosphere being transparent at some infrared bands means a device exploiting this is literally cooled as if it was exposed to interplanetary space. It looks into the abyss.

jngreenlee 7y ago
You can have a fun and cool similar effect if you get a $10 infrared thermometer (I would say one with a laser for helping to point it). Useful for cooking and food safety. But then...go outside a night and point it first at the ground, then at any clouds, and then right up into darkness. You'll see a big drop in temperature, which is the absence of heat energy in the atmosphere itself...all the way out into space. I believe that the sensor has some type of angle to what it can detect, so you're getting the average reading across a large cone of air/space at that point. Also, the radiated heat along the depth of the cone would be "stacked", so that you are viewing a 'cumulative' reading from the entire depths of that cone, like an integral going into space.
- ghego1 7y ago
  So what happens if you point it to the sun during daytime?
  - Dylan16807 7y ago
    Youtube says you get about 350F. The sun's angle is probably too small for a proper reading. (And you get something like -15F for daytime sky.)

jandrese 7y ago

Spacecraft already need large radiators to keep from overheating, so you could theoretically use this to generate a bit of power in the process, especially if it means reducing the amount of battery you need for when you go into the shade of a planet/moon/etc... In practical terms it probably isn't efficient enough to be worth the weight, but the idea is neat nonetheless.