Harnessing waste heat of spacecraft to transmit data
Described are techniques for harnessing the waste heat of a spacecraft to transmit data. A heat sink is thermally connected to the spacecraft. A heat sink refers to a component used to dissipate heat generated by components, such as electronics of a spacecraft, allowing the heat sink to radiate heat into a space vacuum environment. Furthermore, the system includes a modulation mechanism of the spacecraft connected to the heat sink, where the modulation mechanism selectively alters the waste heat thermal radiation emitted from the heat sink according to a signal. The emission of the waste heat thermal radiation from the heat sink at a particular frequency or pattern of pulses is used to encode data. In this manner, data can be transmitted in space in an energy efficient manner by harnessing the waste heat of the spacecraft to transmit data, which otherwise would be lost.
1 . A system for harnessing waste heat of a spacecraft situated in a space vacuum environment to transmit data, the system comprising:
a heat sink thermally connected to the spacecraft, wherein the heat sink is configured to absorb and dissipate waste heat of the spacecraft into the space vacuum environment; and
a modulation mechanism of the spacecraft connected to the heat sink, wherein the modulation mechanism is configured to selectively alter a waste heat thermal radiation emitted from the heat sink according to a signal, wherein data based on the signal is detectable in the waste heat thermal radiation.
2 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the heat sink is connected to a plurality of thermally radiating elements that are selectively thermally connected and unconnected to the heat sink according to the signal.
3 . The system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the thermally radiating elements are spatially distributed such that the selective thermal connection and disconnection encodes the data in a spatial relationship between the thermally radiating elements.
4 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the heat sink comprises a cylindrical thermally radiating element surrounded by an insulating sleeve.
5 . The system as recited in claim 4 , wherein the insulating sleeve comprises at least one hole.
6 . The system as recited in claim 5 , wherein the insulating sleeve is configured to rotate thereby emitting thermal radiation in a pattern of pulses via the at least one hole based on the signal.
7 . The system as recited in claim 6 , wherein the insulating sleeve is configured to rotate at a particular frequency based on the signal, wherein a rotation frequency of the insulating sleeve encodes data.
8 . The system as recited in claim 4 , wherein the insulating sleeve is configured to slide back and forth over the cylindrical thermally radiating element thereby variably occluding the cylindrical thermally radiating element based on the signal.
9 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the heat sink comprises a rotatable element that has a thermal gradient between a first side and a second side of the rotatable element.
10 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the rotatable element rotates at a frequency or emits a pattern of pulses in infrared based on the signal.
11 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein a relative temperature of the first and second sides controls amplitude modulation.
12 . The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the spacecraft comprises a sun shield to protect the heat sink from exposure to solar radiation.
13 . A method for harnessing waste heat of a spacecraft to transmit data, the method comprising:
selectively altering waste heat thermal radiation emitted from a heat sink connected to the spacecraft according to a signal, wherein the waste heat thermal radiation is emitted from the heat sink according to a modulation selected from the group consisting of: a frequency of pulses, a pattern of pulses, a spatial configuration of thermal signals, and a thermal gradient, wherein the emission of the waste heat thermal radiation encodes the data.
14 . The method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the modulation includes selectively thermally connecting and disconnecting a plurality of thermally radiating elements to the heat sink according to the signal.
15 . The method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the modulation includes encoding the data at a variable frequency.
16 . The method as recited in claim 15 , wherein the variable frequency controls a rate of rotation of a thermally insulating sleeve having at least one hole therein that surrounds a thermally radiating element in thermal connection with the heat sink.
17 . The method as recited in claim 15 , wherein the variable frequency controls a rate of a sliding cycle of a thermally insulating sleeve that surrounds and slides back and forth to selectively expose a thermally radiating element in thermal connection with the heat sink.
18 . The method as recited in claim 15 , wherein the variable frequency controls a rate of rotation of a thermally radiating element in thermal connection with the heat sink that includes a thermal gradient between at least two faces of the thermally radiating element.
19 . A system, comprising:
an infrared optical receiver configured to detect a waste heat thermal radiation emitted from a heat sink of a spacecraft, wherein the waste heat thermal radiation encodes data via modulation selected from the group consisting of: a frequency of pulses, a pattern of pulses, a spatial configuration of thermal signals, and a thermal gradient, wherein the infrared optical receiver is further configured to detect an infrared optical signal from the detected waste heat thermal radiation; and
a signal detection module being in electronic communication with the infrared optical receiver, wherein the signal detection module is configured to extract a data signal from the infrared optical signal based on the modulation.
20 . The system as recited in claim 19 , wherein the data signal is extracted from the infrared optical signal using a machine learning model.