4 ms·

Cool idea but it seems a tad more practical to use conventions electronics in a well isolated and temperature controlled bubble. In steampunk spirit, why my a l

Cool idea but it seems a tad more practical to use conventions electronics in a well isolated and temperature controlled bubble. In steampunk spirit, why my a low flying airship? Wind speed is apparently very low near the surface.

sp332 6y ago
How are the electronic sensors going to work if they're isolated?
- treeman79 6y ago
  Thermally isolated
  - TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
    How will that work when ambient is 465C? Without active cooling your box will equalise to that temp. And building a heat pump that can cool the inside of a box to <100C when ambient is >450C is... an interesting project. You may as well just build a mechanical computer using gears and such. Modern manufacturing would make it practical to build a wind-powered tiny geared mechanical CPU and memory. Thermal expansion would be a challenge, but not an impossible one. Peripherals would still be a problem. Receiving commands would likely be impossible, so it would have to be autonomous. But you might be able to use a chemical/optical system for signalling. Or maybe vary radar reflectivity. Or...?
    - treeman79 6y ago
      Yea, this is the part I’m having trouble wrapping my head around. Good isolation can give can give hours or days of useful operation. Which would enable a lot of cool science. Colder then ambient temperature? Feels perpetual motion to me. Maybe a really big tank of liquid nitrogen that slowly evaporates excess heat. Doubt that would give a lot of extra time.
      - XorNot 6y ago
        We use colder then ambient heat pumps all the time - that's just air conditioning. Provided you heat your hot side to hotter then ambient, you can move heat around. The problem with Venus is that "hotter then ambient" is already melting lead and significantly derating most other materials. We're talking an incredible amount of energy and mechanical parts (it's a heat pump) to do it. I would be curious if there's any possible Peltier design which might be able to keep up.
        Retric 6y ago
        Not just that, you also need a power source. An RTG where the cold parts are 470C isn’t going to be efficient so now you need to dissipate a lot of heat to provide any power. Overall, powering the electronics in a sealed box with a battery and a short supply of cryogenic coolant seems like the only viable option. However, even a few hours would be difficult.
        yellowapple 6y ago
        If we're already willing to use wind, per above, then wind power for a refrigerator doesn't seem like it'd be out of the question.
        Retric 6y ago
        The issue isn’t willingness it’s a concern about power output. But, sure if you scale the wind turbine large enough and had some form of energy storage that should be possible even if it’s not actually viable.

sp332 6y ago

How are the electronic sensors going to work if they're isolated?

treeman79 6y ago
Thermally isolated
- TheOtherHobbes 6y ago
  How will that work when ambient is 465C? Without active cooling your box will equalise to that temp. And building a heat pump that can cool the inside of a box to <100C when ambient is >450C is... an interesting project. You may as well just build a mechanical computer using gears and such. Modern manufacturing would make it practical to build a wind-powered tiny geared mechanical CPU and memory. Thermal expansion would be a challenge, but not an impossible one. Peripherals would still be a problem. Receiving commands would likely be impossible, so it would have to be autonomous. But you might be able to use a chemical/optical system for signalling. Or maybe vary radar reflectivity. Or...?
  - treeman79 6y ago
    Yea, this is the part I’m having trouble wrapping my head around. Good isolation can give can give hours or days of useful operation. Which would enable a lot of cool science. Colder then ambient temperature? Feels perpetual motion to me. Maybe a really big tank of liquid nitrogen that slowly evaporates excess heat. Doubt that would give a lot of extra time.
    - XorNot 6y ago
      We use colder then ambient heat pumps all the time - that's just air conditioning. Provided you heat your hot side to hotter then ambient, you can move heat around. The problem with Venus is that "hotter then ambient" is already melting lead and significantly derating most other materials. We're talking an incredible amount of energy and mechanical parts (it's a heat pump) to do it. I would be curious if there's any possible Peltier design which might be able to keep up.
      - Retric 6y ago
        Not just that, you also need a power source. An RTG where the cold parts are 470C isn’t going to be efficient so now you need to dissipate a lot of heat to provide any power. Overall, powering the electronics in a sealed box with a battery and a short supply of cryogenic coolant seems like the only viable option. However, even a few hours would be difficult.
        yellowapple 6y ago
        If we're already willing to use wind, per above, then wind power for a refrigerator doesn't seem like it'd be out of the question.
        Retric 6y ago
        The issue isn’t willingness it’s a concern about power output. But, sure if you scale the wind turbine large enough and had some form of energy storage that should be possible even if it’s not actually viable.