5 ms·
It's not actually gold foil, it's typically a mettalised polymer film, Kapton. This becomes part of a multi-layer insulation material where each layer is compos
by ianstallings 13y ago
It's not actually gold foil, it's typically a mettalised polymer film, Kapton. This becomes part of a multi-layer insulation material where each layer is composed of a different material that has certain advantageous properties, with all of the layers separated by a small shim between them to avoid thermal conduction.
I really gotta stop playing so much Kerbal Space Program.
- stevenrace 13y agoMost of the shiny 'gold' things seen in aerospace and motorsports is just vapor deposited Kapton/polymide. But there are applications where gold is indeed used - but it's unclear (in the literature I've read) when/where it's appropriate to use gold. The helmet use case I can believe. I also imagine large swathes of gold would be problematic - structural surfaces being unnecessarily conductive or introducing inductive noise.
- jloughry 13y agoThe US Navy EA-6B Prowler, an airplane that emits a LOT of radio frequency energy, has a conductive gold layer on its canopy for Faraday cage reasons, to protect the crew from the radar jammer.
- smackfu 13y agoNot for spacesuit visors though, right?
- ianstallings 13y agoTrue I think that is another application of gold using vaporization but I have no clue about the details.
- nobodysfool 13y agoVisors are metallic gold. The foil surrounding other equipment are most likely not metallic gold though. Source: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/188963main_Extravehicular_Mobility_Unit.pdf http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/188963main_Extravehicular_Mobility_U...
- mturmon 13y agoGood point. Here's some more background on multi-layer insulation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-layer_insulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-layer_insulation Of course, gold foil per se would end up being too heavy for a spacecraft thermal blanket.