From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!cmcl2!philabs!sdcsvax!davidson
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Title: Re: Ooops!  Doors Still Not Closed
Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.2162
Posted: Fri Jul  2 08:39:36 1982
Received: Sat Jul  3 05:12:43 1982
References: alice.749

"the deep cold of space" indeed!  I hope that was facetious, but
anyway, I feel I should remind people that space at the distance the
Columbia is flying is a much better vacuum than that of a Thermos
bottle.  Other than in esoteric measures (the temperature of the
background radiation, or the "temperature" of the solar wind), space
can be thought of as not having any temperature.  The only way you
can lose (or gain) heat in space is through radiative transfer.

Does anyone have any data on to what extent the Columbia's coloring
is due to the intended effects on its albedo, how much is has to do
with other desired properties of the materials, and how much is due
to esthetics?

Greg Davidson
usenet: ...!ucbvax!sdcsvax!davidson
arpanet: davidson@nprdc