eli5: if space is virtually empty, does a space shuttle stay hot from when it exits the atmosphere because there’s less particles to absorb the heat? Or does it do the opposite and cool rapidly?

Question

I’m just curious as to the process and behavior of the surface temp of a shuttle once there’s virtually no particles in contact with the craft.

I’m aware space is cold due to the absence of matter,

But does a space shuttle take a much longer time frame to cool down with less matter available to transfer the heat of the craft to, or does the lack of matter cause the shuttle to cool rapidly?

In: 141

Answer 1

It will slowly radiate over time. I am not sure if the temperatures the shuttle experiences on launch, but on re-entry it gets really hot because of friction with the atmosphere which is why the under side has heat shields on it.

In low earth orbit where the shuttle operates there are hardly any particles to carry any heat away by convection so the primary mode of heat transfer up there is radiation. It’s why the shuttle is white since white reflects a great deal of incident radiation.

Heat transfer by radiation is the most ineffective mode of the three (conduction, convection, and radiation) so it also results in the slowest rate of temperature changes.