I would think it would lose heat to space fast enough, but maybe not. I know heat dissipation is a major concern for spacecraft, but those are usually generating their own heat rather than just trying to dump what they pick up from the sun. What would happen to the ice / water? It's not like it can just evaporate into the atmosphere...
It's not like it can just evaporate into the atmosphere...
Vapour doesn't need an atmosphere to take it up. Empty space does just as well.
So, how long would a snowball in high orbit last? Sounds like a question for xkcd. A brief attempt at a lower bound that is probably a substantial underestimate:
How much energy has to be pumped in per kilogram to turn ice at whatever the "temperature" is in orbit into water vapour? Call that E. Let S be the solar insolation of 1.3 kW/m^2. Imagine the ice is a spherical cow, er, a rectangular block directly f...
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