The vacuum of space makes cooling extremely challenging. The Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut, HHI is developing technologies for thermal management in aerospace applications. The research team is using femtosecond and nanosecond lasers to treat the outer surfaces of satellite components and rocket nozzles to improve their heat dissipation. The researchers will be at the joint Fraunhofer booth at ILA 2026 to demonstrate that metal surfaces structured for high-emissivity ensure significantly more efficient cooling.
Space is a vacuum. Heat therefore cannot be transferred to the surroundings by thermal conduction. This poses a problem for any type of space-capable electronics, which can quickly overheat under these conditions. The only way to dissipate heat in space is through radiation into space.
