Thread: Apollo 13 Hoax?
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Old 03-November-2001, 09:45 PM
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As was previosuly pointed out, you cannot just say how hot something will be when you place it 1 AU from the Sun. The reflectivity of the object is critical. A white sheet placed in Earth orbit will be much cooler than a black one. Something that reflects 40% of the light that hits it (which is roughly what the Earth does) will actually have a temperature below freezing (assuming it rotates rapidly). The Earth's atmosphere's greenhouse effect is what keeps us above freezing.

So your comment about 200 Fahrenheit is essentially meaningless unless you say what the material is. For an Apollo capsule, which is highly reflective, the ambient temperature would be quite low.
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