They don't. Far from the sun they freeze. Fossilisation is a combination of chemical processes. It can't happen if everything is frozen.RedOktober wrote:How do things fossil up in space?
If something is as close to the sun as the earth is, if one side constantly faces the sun, then that side will become hot, and the other (to the extent it isn't heated by conduction from the other side), as cold as starlight (which is close to zero Kelvin). If it rotates, then the temperature will be about that of Earth. Even so, the chemical processes require that the object is immersed in water, and that isn't going to happen. In fact, even at Earth temperature, the low pressure would mean that any water present would evaporate, so liquifaction wouldn't happen. Presumably dessication would be so extreme that you'd get almost instant mummification.
An interesting question, thanks.
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Russia is expecting a test flight in 2015 and orbital missions in 2018, similar to the Orion/Constellation. Maybe a year or so later at most.