Submitted by gumby_the_2nd t3_yb52m4 in space
the_fungible_man t1_itevk6p wrote
Reply to comment by gumby_the_2nd in decompression of liquids in outer space by gumby_the_2nd
Sublimation of ice cools the ice left behind. Eventually the remaining ice will reach the temperature point in the ice/water/vapor pressure vs. temperature phase diagram at which ice is the equilibrium state. Below that temperature (somewhere below -100°C.) sublimation effectively stops.
This is why moons of the outer planets can have long-lived ice crusts exposed directly to the hard vacuum of space.
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