Solar Heating and Life Support

[KerbMav]

Is there a mod already using the heating from solar radiation, cooking of Kerbals if there are no radiators/cooling system?

[MatterBeam]

Look at the Apollo command module. It went to the Moon and back. Did it need extended radiators to remove the effects of solar heating?

[Mecripp]

You might look at KabinKraziness http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/114956-WIP-0-90-KabinKraziness-0-1-7Apr2015

[NathanKell]

Krakenfour: it defintiely did need radiators. Check out a schematic of the Service Module some time.

(Also it was exceptionally reflective, and therefore had low solar absorption.)

[lincourtl]

Look at the Apollo command module. It went to the Moon and back. Did it need extended radiators to remove the effects of solar heating?

Apollo CM also executed a Passive Thermal Control (PTC) maneuver; i.e. a barbecue roll. There's an extended discussion of the maneuver in the Apollo 15 Flight Journal starting with this passage. Phil Karn's technical discussion immediately following is worth the read.

Strong, unfiltered sunlight, with its large infrared component, heats one side of the spacecraft. Meanwhile, the great heatsink of deep space chills the other side as energy is radiated away at infrared wavelengths. The story is told in the excellent book, Apollo: The Race to the Moon, by Murray and Cox, of the difficulties the spacecraft designers were having with the heatshield material around the Command Module, trying to make it withstand extreme cold as well as heat. Joe Shea, a brilliant and intuitive engineer who was the NASA chief overseeing the CSM's difficult birth, asked how long it took for the heatshield to cool to the point where it began to crack and flake. The answer of thirteen hours prompted him to suggest that they simply keep changing the spacecraft's attitude by rotating it slowly in the sunlight. The maneuver which resulted was PTC or Passive Thermal Control, dubbed by many the 'barbecue' mode. The integrity of the heatshield is not the only reason for PTC. The RCS quads, SPS propellant tanks and the structure, propellant and battery systems of the LM also needed to be evenly heated or cooled.

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Krakenfour: it defintiely did need radiators. Check out a schematic of the Service Module some time.

(Also it was exceptionally reflective, and therefore had low solar absorption.)

Exactly. The big silver bits are the radiator panels.