Is it cooler in space than on the ground? How does the space station keep "spring-like weather all year round"?

In the hot summer, people always want to find a cool place to rest. With global warming, there are fewer and fewer places on Earth to escape the heat, and outer space has become a place that some people yearn for.

Is space really cooler than the ground? It depends on the situation! In the space of ice and fire, how does the space station maintain "spring-like weather all year round"?

Temperature of space

In space, without the protection of the atmosphere, all man-made objects directly absorb the sun's radiation.

On the front side of the radiation, the temperature of an object can reach over 100 degrees Celsius, while on the back side it can drop to minus 100 degrees Celsius.

Speaking of coolness, it is indeed cooler than the ground in some places, but it is a little too cool.

Faced with the extreme temperature differences in space, the construction of the space station has to use specific materials to withstand the temperature differences in space.

The construction materials of the space station can withstand the test, but many factors must be considered. For example, astronauts may land on the space station for supplies in the future, and the temperature inside the station must be suitable for human survival.

Not only that, in my country's space planning, the space station must achieve the normalization and long-term stay of astronauts.

How to isolate the temperature transmitted from the outside world and keep the space station "spring-like all year round" has become a key consideration for scientists.

Perhaps, in the more distant future, humans will go to outer space to escape the summer heat.

Sunscreen for spacecraft

After a spacecraft is launched into space, it will start moving immediately. This is not due to the effect of gravity, but to allow the surface of the spacecraft to evenly receive solar radiation and control the temperature difference on the surface of the spacecraft within a smaller range.

However, this also brought many inconveniences. Before the launch of the Shenzhou XII spacecraft, this problem has always existed in my country's aerospace field.

During the mission, the spacecraft faced the situation of multiple spacecraft overlapping each other. Some parts of the spacecraft were in the shadow for a long time and could not receive the radiation from the sun well.

A small part of the hull remained in an environment of more than 100 degrees below zero Celsius for a long time, seriously affecting the operation of the spacecraft and the flexibility of its equipment.

Parts of the hull are exposed to radiation for a long time, which results in high temperatures and a temperature difference of several hundred degrees, which can easily reduce the service life of the equipment. Repairing and maintaining equipment in outer space is a very troublesome task.

In order to solve this problem, scientists worked day and night and finally developed a "sunscreen" suitable for spacecraft - a thermal control coating.

The principle of this "sunscreen" is similar to that of the Earth's atmosphere. When receiving solar radiation, it can absorb and preserve part of the heat in the radiation.

When certain parts of the spacecraft are in the shadow, the "sunscreen" in these parts will come into play again, feeding back the received radiation heat so that the temperature of the spacecraft will not be too low.

With such a layer of "sunscreen", the spacecraft can stay in one place for a long time to operate, greatly reducing the losses caused by temperature differences.

Of course, just having a layer of "sunscreen" is not enough. "Sunscreen" can only ensure that the external temperature is within the acceptable range of the instrument. When the temperature is transmitted to the inside, it is still not suitable for human habitation.

Creating thermal insulation

High-tech thermal insulation materials can block the temperature transmitted from the surface of the spacecraft, forming two independent temperature spaces between the interior and the surface.

The colors of thermal insulation materials used for different parts of the spacecraft are different.

For example, the astronaut's cockpit uses gray thermal insulation material, which can effectively isolate the external temperature while also absorbing a small amount of heat to provide internal temperature.

Other non-living areas are made of white materials to reflect the sun's light and heat and completely block out the outside temperature.

In addition, in terms of design, scientists use materials composed of high-reflectivity films, which are then repeatedly stacked to form a multi-layer reflective structure.

White reflects sunlight and heat

Such a thick reflective film can easily "bounce back" even the sun's radiation.

In terms of thermal insulation, after layers of reflective film are stacked, the temperature inside the cabin is difficult to transfer out. After touching the reflective film, the temperature is fed back into the cabin to prevent heat loss.

It takes 90 minutes for my country's spacecraft Tianzhou-4 to orbit the Earth. During this time, Tianzhou-4 has to experience the "ice and fire" of the radiation side and the shadow side of the sun fourteen times. Therefore, scientists loaded a "coat" on Tianzhou-4, and its effect is very significant. Tianzhou-4 has been operating in this way for several years, and its internal instruments and equipment have not suffered obvious damage.

But the problem arises again. Humans cannot accurately regulate the temperature inside the cabin by relying solely on "sunscreen" and insulation materials.

Sometimes, the temperature inside the cabin can reach around 40 degrees Celsius. What should astronauts do when they want a cooler environment?

“Central air conditioning” in space

The "central air conditioning" in the space station is different from the central air conditioning people usually know, mainly in the principle of operation.

The principle of the central air conditioning that we usually use is that the liquid is vaporized and transported to various areas for cooling, and then heated through a compressor. The compressor converts the low temperature outside into high-temperature gas to achieve the purpose of heating.

The "central space" in the space station uses special liquids to regulate the temperature of various areas in the station. Scientists call it a fluid circuit.

Special liquids are distributed in every corner of the space station. They circulate back and forth in the space station. When the temperature is too high, the liquids will absorb the temperature inside the station.

When encountering a supercooled area, the liquid will release the absorbed temperature, so that the space station always maintains a suitable temperature.

Of course, if you want to adjust the temperature range within the space station, you only need to adjust the special liquid distributed in the space station.

At the same time, according to the direction and range of liquid flow, different temperatures can be created for specific rooms. If conditions permit, humans can even take a sauna in the room.

This method of temperature regulation can be described as a true "central air conditioning".

As my country's largest space experiment module, the Wentian spacecraft carries many instruments and equipment that emit high heat, which places extremely high demands on my country's thermal control technology.

In response to this, my country loaded three sets of special solutions on the Wentian spacecraft to scatter the collected heat into outer space.

Experiments have shown that the solution loaded on the Wentian spacecraft can supply several kilowatts of payload equipment for operation, solving the problem of excessive temperature affecting the loop system.

With three methods of temperature control in place, it is naturally spring all year round in the space station.

Space temperature

It is worth mentioning that the temperature of space itself (minus 270℃) is close to absolute zero. Only when objects in space receive solar radiation can they produce high temperatures.

How can the "nothing" space in a vacuum state generate temperature?

The reason why objects can generate temperature is that after the molecules inside receive energy, the activity of the molecules determines the temperature of the object. At absolute zero, the molecules no longer move, so there cannot be a temperature lower than absolute zero.

By analogy, since space is 3°C higher than absolute zero, there should be molecules in it. So where do these molecules come from?

Some scientists speculate that the universe is scattered with dust left over from the Big Bang. These dusts are extremely small, but they really exist. The molecules in them are very inactive and have poor heat absorption, which causes the temperature of space to drop to minus 270 degrees Celsius.

Some scientists also believe that these temperatures are actually caused by the dark matter in the universe. You should know that dark matter accounts for more than 25% of the universe. It is invisible and intangible, like a "ghost".

Moreover, the molecules of dark matter itself are not active and basically do not react with other molecules. Therefore, under the radiation of the sun, they can only absorb 3°C of temperature, making the space above absolute zero, which seems reasonable.

More scientists tend to believe the latter. After all, dark matter is too mysterious and contains infinite possibilities.

I believe that with the advancement of human technology, the secrets of space will be fully revealed.

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