UK company sends factory with 1,000C furnace into space • Hacker News Board

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

#91

Post by shermantanktop » Mon, Jan 05, 2026, 12:32 AM UTC

OJFord wrote: post #84

doubletwoyou wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

healthwise i guess for the bad

Triple-cooked chips are usually parboiled and twice fried; if anything it's probably healthier than a single fry, because the first fry is brief and hot to crisp up the exterior, so the oil absorption's less the second time, and perhaps less overall than a single (necessarily cooler) fry.

The chips in question are deeply brown and shiny, but your reasonable-sounding explanation suits my need for self-delusion so well that I will accept it whether it’s true or not.

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

#92

Post by jsbisviewtiful » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 4:21 PM UTC

boothby wrote: post #50

fsh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best silicon single crystals still contain impurities at the 1E-11 level. This project is about doing crystal growing in low gravity (the ultra-high purity is only achieved due to the growth process). The vacuum of space is a lot worse than what can be achieved in the lab, especially in low orbits.

What I'm struggling with is the hard radiation, which causes defects and even impurities even if you start with isotopically pure feedstock

I had a similar thought regarding radiation - but also curious about cost to continuously launch materials and the overall reliability of recovery. Just seems like a lot of "what ifs" for the sake of finding funding.

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

#93

Post by hackeraccount » Wed, Jan 07, 2026, 5:10 PM UTC

dmurray wrote: post #39

mattmaroon wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm sure they've done the maths and determined that it's not economically feasible at all. But if it works as a proof of concept, in three or four generations time perhaps they'll have a scalable process which pays for itself.

This exactly. At scale there are a lot of things that are profitable that are idiotic when done Ad Hoc. To get to scale though you need a particular kind of bullshitter who can hold on to the idea that what they say is true and also on some level understand that they have to idea how to do the bullshit they're promoting.