Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 23:59:01 -600
   From: "Sean Connor" <connor@meena.cc.uregina.ca>

   > 1) there is no air in space. there is no way that anything can
   > disintigrate due to old age if there is no air present in the place.

   Nani?

   IIRC, NASA did some experiments that involved attaching samples of 
   various materials to the outside of a satellite, which was later 
   retrieved. I saw photographs of the samples, and they were most 
   definitely degraded. Cosmic/solar radiation and collisions with 
   micrometeors caused the degradation. 

There's something even worse, at least in Low Earth Orbit: atomic
oxygen.  As you're probably aware, oxygen is pretty reactive
stuff---but you're familiar with O2, 2 oxygen atoms bonded into a
molecule.  Reactions down here have to cleave that bond first.  In
space, O2 from the atmosphere gets cleaved by various mechanisms, and
little enough recombines that aparently there is lots of hungry, very
reactive atomic oxygen just looking for things to react with....

I haven't had time to read the story, so I don't know where this is
set, but even on the Moon there would likely be some atomic oxygen,
and given enough time degredation would be likely (if you're on the
moon, thermal cycling alone will do a number on lots of materials).

					- Harold