[ELI5] Would something stay hot in the space forever since there is nothing to transfer its heat?
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As other comments have said, radiation will still dissipate some heat over time, but I think it’s worth mentioning that you’re absolutely right that with almost no matter to conduct or convect away the heat it would stay hot for much longer.
In fact, (and I’m not a rocket scientist, just a physics student, so most of my knowledge about this comes from being a fan of The Expanse) I’m pretty sure getting rid of excess heat is a major issue in space travel, because everything we do to keep ourselves alive and comfortable generates waste heat, there aren’t many good ways to speed up radiative heat loss, and getting rid of heat in other ways requires us to dump that heat into some limited substance and jettison it.
Anyone with a less sci-fi-based understanding feel free to correct me here, but I think the principles are ok.
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