Re:China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover dies on moon
by lutusp on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @06:55PM
(#7228373)
As it turns out, even on earth's surface, radiation is a more efficient heat transfer method than conduction and convection through the air. Objects under a clear sky quickly drop below air temperature in many circumstances.
Re:China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover dies on moon
by hrkristian on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @09:47PM
(#7229015)
Thank you! I did an hour jog tonight, and most of that time was spent trying to figure out why there was frost on the ground with an air temperature above freezing and a warm breeze.
Re:China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover dies on moon
by dTal on Thursday February 13, 2014 @01:52PM
(#7233309)
I wonder if heat might also be conducting downwards to the frozen ground below.
Re:China's Jade Rabbit lunar rover dies on moon
by grogenaut on Wednesday February 12, 2014 @10:25PM
(#7229153)
What he's trying to say is that if you toss a rock into liquid helium or a 4 Kelvin zero g vacuum it's going to get colder faster via direct contact with the helium than via radiation in the vacuum.
When immersed in a vacuum the conduction and convection heat transfer paths are sharply reduced, so the question then becomes how fast do you cool off via radiation alone?
I'm not a physicist so I don't know, but it's certainly nowhere near as fast as conduction/convection (in fact I believe heat dissipation was actually problematic for many spacecraft designs).