Cool, was wondering how the reactors worked in satellites. Was thinking it could be done with the Seebeck effect*. Then the posts about RTG's had me wondering what an RTG was, the Wikipedia entry answered it nicely for me.
One thing thats not explained in the wiki tho, is how the cold side of the Seebeck devices are cooled. I s'pose it's the coolant system that keeps the rest of the satellite warm? Anyone know?
Just figured if there was any excess heat that a convection-heatsink Isn't gonna be very helpfull in space! Maybe they have some sort of Emissivity-heatsink?
* If you have a Peltier cooled camera, next time you pack it in for the night and power it down, have a small low voltage light globe handy and run it off the cold Peltier. Your Peltier device just became a Seebeck device.
