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...and LEO is a more forgiving radiation environment than deep space. Okay, I'll grant you your automotive-grade ASICs.

We haven't solved the thermal engineering, not at all. There are many materials with high emissivity, but you also want high thermal conductivity, high electrical conductivity, high toughness and high strength.

Unobtanium.

There are good reasons why aluminium is standard, and whatever the treatment its emissivity sucks at any temperature that automotive-grade electronics can be expected to survive.

Shall we re-run your calculations, as a second-approximation with a plausible emissivity (0.2) and a delta-T budget for heat-spreaders/heat pipes (10C ?).

Peter Todd 1y ago

You obviously didn't read my link. Your just unable to admit you're wrong.

And we haven't even gotten into higher tech solutions like the large variety of specialty coatings that have been developed to optimize radiation (hint: the ISS's radiators aren't black, because they use special coatings to optimize exactly what wavelengths they emit and absorb).

Finally, as I explained in my post, you can pick whatever temperature you want arbitrarily by simply rotating your satellite at an angle to the sun.

Space mining is clearly possible. Whether or not it is actually economical is a question of in-depth cost engineering that none of us are in a position to evaluate without an enormous amount of detailed cost engineering work.

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Low Information Voter 1y ago

Your link, I'm sorry to say, does not support the 0.85 emissivity you claimed for aluminium. Where did you get that?

Your link also does not give any hint as to what temperature their source measured emissivity at. Anything can be emissive at plasma temperatures.

So no. Use the engineeringtoolbox numbers, which do list treatments and temperatures.

0.2, for heavily oxidised aluminium.

Z-93, as used on the ISS radiators, is rather nice, though. You should have gone with that from the start.

You certainly can rotate your panels away from perpendicular to reduce insolation, but obviously that will reduce power and hash rate, while doing nothing about radiation damage or cost of now-idled capital.

You are correct that we cannot perform a detailed economic analysis without a design, but I stand by my previous conclusion.

We will not be commercially mining bitcoin in free space this century, and without "new physics" we won't be doing it ever. Not even with zero launch costs.

Peter Todd 1y ago

That link is for infrared thermometer readings. Hence, low temperature.

It's bizarre how you are surprised by this. Anodization greatly increases the surface roughness of aluminum. This information is easy to find from lots of sources:

https://www.gabrian.com/anodized-aluminum-heatsinks-what-you-need-to-know/#:~:text=The%20emissivity%20of%20an%20anodized,(which%20utilize%20a%20fan).

Low Information Voter 1y ago

Okay, much better, now that one says 0.85.

Day-um, wild if true. Wonder that oxide thickness, and if they've published a paper. Not very important in-atmosphere or when surrounded by other FIR-emitting things, but in space...