UK company sends factory with 1,000C furnace into space

Post by willis936 » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 1:58 PM UTC

HPsquared wrote: post #13

tomatotomato37 wrote: post #8

I'm curious what the thermal management system on this looks like. On one hand, vacuum being in essence a perfect insulator works in favor of keeping the silicon hot for the very long time it takes to pull a boule while requiring very little energy. On the other hand, you have to make sure the control electronics don't also heat up to 1000C. I'm also curious how you keep the molten silion separate from the crystal wi…

Something like a vacuum flask, I imagine. Vacuum is a very good insulator already and you minimise radiative heat transfer (infrared glow) by making a surface shiny and metallic usually (low emissivity)

Post by aeonik » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 2:13 PM UTC

willis936 wrote: post #31

HPsquared wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something like a vacuum flask, I imagine. Vacuum is a very good insulator already and you minimise radiative heat transfer (infrared glow) by making a surface shiny and metallic usually (low emissivity)

Good electrical conductors are also good thermal conductors. It's a fun system challenge to minimize what needs to be hot, but some things will have to get hot. It could be reduced to a photodiode, transistor, and a relay. But how do you get the power to the heater in a compact way?

Post by rsynnott » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 2:47 PM UTC

actionfromafar wrote: post #21

UK - the only country to achieve to-orbit capability only to shelve it after the first flight.

Post by mattmaroon » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 3:21 PM UTC

willis936 wrote: post #30

Squeeze2664 wrote: post #4

I'm only YouTube-level informed on how silicon manufacturing works, but something that is, perhaps intentionally, not made clear to someone unfamiliar with the field is that this is not manufacturing chips in space. This is to grow the crystals only, the very first step in silicon chip manufacturing. This is how you get the ingot, then you slice it to get the wafers upon which the chips are built. The reason you woul…

Do gravity-based defects outweigh displacement defects from fast particles? Also, there are large headwinds from having to ship up a large quantity of raw material and have to deorbit a payload so fragile that any amount of shock is unacceptable. Maybe a high purity silicon boule pays for these headwinds with room for profit on top. I'm skeptical, but time will tell.

Post by dmurray » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 3:33 PM UTC

mattmaroon wrote: post #37

willis936 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do gravity-based defects outweigh displacement defects from fast particles? Also, there are large headwinds from having to ship up a large quantity of raw material and have to deorbit a payload so fragile that any amount of shock is unacceptable. Maybe a high purity silicon boule pays for these headwinds with room for profit on top. I'm skeptical, but time will tell.

It would be pretty easy for them to have done the math in advance and I’m sure they’re aware that space travel is expensive.