Space Radiators

[JahwsUF]

Since we're doing Space Industry update stuff anyway, I figure now's the prime time to suggest this.  Since we're doing Solar Power, why not allow for radiation-based cooling to space?  I'm basing this suggestion on the real-world concept, though admittedly the idea came to me because of KSP.

Basically, liquid would be pumped through the Thermal Radiator and would be passively cooled down by a set amount of kDTU/s.  (Enough to counter local heat from meteor strikes... maybe twice that, but not much further?)  Think of its implementation as a low-powered Anti-Entropy Thermal Nullifier that requires lots of surface space, rather than Hydrogen.  It should require both space and light exposure - the former for obvious reasons, with the second to model infrared emissions out of the asteroid rather than in, as with Solar panels.  Its Overheat temperature should be quite extreme, but it should be vulnerable to meteor strikes.

The big reason for this suggestion - due to lots of meteor bombardment, the surface tends to get pretty hot.  This would allow a relatively localized cooling solution akin to the new Auto-Miner's ability to help clear away pesky Regolith.deposits.  The natural tradeoff is that it directly competes with Solar Panels for surface space - more Thermal Radiators means less Solar Panels and vice-versa.

Since the Thermal Radiator directly competes with Solar Panels, perhaps it's best unlocked around the same time with similar resource requirements.  I don't think we should require the new, exotic materials - by the time those can be made, the player will have time and opportunity to implement more exotic surface cooling solutions with ease.

A bit of fun with this design:  naturally, the liquid pumped through the Thermal Radiator matters.  As with everything else in ONI, if the result of the cooling effect would be a phase transition, the radiator would break.  It'd be automatable and work best when linked with the Liquid Pipe Thermo Sensor.  As a result, 'early' on Petroleum might be the best 'coolant', but the new Supercoolant would give the greatest range of operation long-term.

[Madbro]

We lack a space radiator.

Make use of the coldness of the space would be great.

[Algaernon]

I agree, radiators should be a thing. It should only work as a radiator at night with a clear view of the sky. That will add a fun incentive to put it behind bunker doors and automate based on both meteors and daylight clock time. Hmm, too bad the nights are so short... wouldn't run them very long at a time... but you could still build a bunch, I guess?

[JahwsUF]

I thought about suggesting the 'at night' thing, but that doesn't seem to be required by the real-world equivalent.

[Xenologist]

On 10/5/2018 at 9:42 AM, JahwsUF said:

 new Supercoolant

You know that needs mercury

[JahwsUF]

1 hour ago, zergologist said:

You know that needs mercury

Yup.  That would allow the Thermal Radiator to be more effective late-game once the player is able to make it, meaning that this suggestion would actually have a slight ability to scale as the player techs up, which I think is a pretty cool aspect to the suggested design.  That's what I was trying to go for in the part you quoted, though I may not have expressed it well.