Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login
China's space agency reportedly tested a Stirling converter in orbit (interestingengineering.com)
1 point by danboarder on April 8, 2023 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments



I suppose the main benefit of this sort of system in space would be having a large and robust lump of steel with a reflector array for a heat collector facing the sun, (even if that means a separate launch) that's not going to get ripped apart by existing space debris.

https://phys.org/news/2023-04-china-stirling-orbit.html


Its real use case is going to be for nuclear power, either fission reactors or radioisotope power systems. Not solar electric. It turns out solar concentrators and reflectors are pretty difficult and fragile.

If you have enough sunlight, solar will almost always be preferred.

Note, I work with these systems at NASA.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: