Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: What if...
Message-ID: <1989Mar26.215708.29471@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <5042@cbnews.ATT.COM> <15.UUL1.3#5131@mvac.UUCP> <1989Mar25.222108.9060@utzoo.uucp> <7648@killer.Dallas.TX.US>
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 89 21:57:08 GMT

In article <7648@killer.Dallas.TX.US> rcj@killer.Dallas.TX.US (Robert Johnson) writes:
>... noticed that the rescue balls had no way to control the tempurature
>inside of them...

Well, they undoubtedly get some degree of temperature control from the
flow of air through them, but it's true they don't have anything else.
They aren't meant for long exposure to space, and for that matter they
aren't meant for comfort.

>This brings up a question that I've been wondering about-
>What is the ambient tempurature of space?...

It has none.  Temperature is a property of matter; space is the absence
of matter.  Of course, in practice there is a bit of matter there, but
it's so thin that its temperature is irrelevant.  The temperature of an
object in space is dominated by sunlight, internal heat generation, and
heat radiation.  Big spacecraft, especially manned ones, generally have
to make specific efforts to get rid of heat.  Small ones can usually
keep temperature under control by careful design.

>...How long could an astronaut stay alive in one of those things?

The limiting factor is almost certainly air supply, not cooling.
-- 
Welcome to Mars!  Your         |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
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