You have a point. Let me rephrase my statement - if that uniform is designed to help HAL withstand the temperatures of space, it would be damn useful at the North Pole. Remember, this is probably some fancy-schmancy space fabric we're talking about here - it likely has properties that defy our knowledge of thermodynamics. It might even have heating wires embedded in it like an electric blanket, designed to start working the moment the body is exposed to sub-zero temperatures for longer than thirty seconds or so. (Batman has a costume like that for winter weather - I mean, minus the automatic turn-on stuff, but still.) However it works, my point is that, if you're stranded at the Pole and need an appropriate garment, you can't do much better than a suit designed to withstand who-knows-how-many-degrees below zero.