Exterior spacesuit temps...

Question

I understand thermal transfer processes (id est, radiative, conductive and convective), so I don't need an explanation of how the lack of an atmosphere on the moon makes heat transfer take longer, how white objects absorb/radiate heat slower than black, et cetera. But I'd like to know how hot the outside of the EVA suits got during some of the longer EVAs on the moon (or even on Earth orbit EVAs), how hot the lunar samples probably were when brought back to the LM, and if/what heat mitigation plans were/are in place after EVAs.

I ask because I do know that lunar landings were planned to occur shortly after local sunrise so that the regolith and rocks wouldn't be too hot, so I've always been interested in if there are heat issues after EVA.

Answer 1

The night temperature at the Apollo 15 site would drop to -181C,  Daytime temperature were over 100C.  

Answer 2

The only heat related fact I remember is that the lunar rover battery case on the first rover, Apollo 15, tended to get too hot. They may have redesigned it because I don't recall any similar problem on later missions.

By the way, heat on the Moon would be no different than in space. It is the same for the space station astronauts as for the Moon walkers. They tend to get cold fingers on the night side of Earth I hear, but otherwise I have no information about exterior suit surface temperatures.

Answer 3

a great question!

it would definitely be an issue if the astronauts had've brought back the rocks INSIDE the capsule, but its my understanding that they were suspended from the outside on bungee cords.

okay, seriously... they were in sealed containers, due to the worry that they would contaminate the crew somehow.  I don't recall them ever checking a temperature.