Kalpana One design (was Rotating space colonies)

The problem with an orbiting space colony in regard to maintaining
thermal balance is that, because it's located in the vacuum of space,
the people inside are essentially living in a thermos bottle. The only
heat loss they can expect is radiative heat loss. On the other hand,
they can expect external radiative heat gain from those portions of the
station that are in sunlight as well as internal heat gain from people,
motors, computers, lights, etc.

The amount of heat gain inside the station significactly exceeds the
radiative heat loss that the station dwellers can hope to achieve
through a solid meter of concrete or glass. For this reason, heat
rejection panels permanently shaded from sunlight and cooling loops
(central air conditioning for space dwellers) will be an integral - and
critical - part of the station's air handling systems. The number, size,
and placement of skylights, windows, and lightwave guides will be
determined by illumination needs and aesthetic benefit. The capacity for
external heat rejection by radiative panels will not be largely effected
by heat gain or loss through these panels - although they will be one of
the factors considered during the design of the cooling and air handling
systems.

Chris

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "brooksn" wrote:
>
> Agreed, question on the ISS design and future designs. My
understanding is that the windows of the ISS are a cause for major heat
loss, and the ammonia based radiators for the ISS are needed to remove
excess heat. I've wondered for awhile now why both these issues are
merged. If larger sturdier windows, placed on the trailing side of
station for reduced micro impacts, were put on the station and
retractable insulation was available to regulate the temperature
couldn't this reduce the complexity of the station and give you a kick
ass view to boot?