All three landers touch down into the same 465°C / 92-bar environment. Their electronics respond differently because of what the semiconductor itself is made of, not because of anything about the landing.
Si, no cooling: T(t) = amb − (amb−27)·e^(−t/0.6h) → fails ≈2h
Si, cooling: T held ≈45–90°C while coolant > 0
coolant hours ∝ coolant mass (kg)
once coolant = 0 → same fast rise as A
SiC: T(t) = amb always → never fails
- Lander A has no cooling mass to carry, but its silicon junctions exceed their ~150°C rating almost immediately and the package is cooked within a couple of simulated hours — matching Venera's real ~2-hour surface record.
- Lander B spends its coolant-mass budget on a phase-change/refrigeration system to hold ordinary silicon chips below their rating. More mass buys more hours (this 2D version lets you tune the mass directly), but the coolant is always finite — once depleted, the electronics heat-soak to ambient just like Lander A.
- Lander C's silicon-carbide bandgap (~3.3 eV vs silicon's 1.1 eV) lets its transistors switch correctly with the junction sitting at 465°C, so it needs no cooling mass and simply keeps running — the operational clock climbs into days and weeks as you fast-forward.
- Time acceleration scales simulated surface time; the coolant mass slider scales how long Lander B's cooling reserve lasts before it fails the same way Lander A does.