Author Topic: "Foil & duct tape" on the landers  (Read 14317 times)

Offline Allan F

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Re: "Foil & duct tape" on the landers
« Reply #15 on: March 09, 2017, 02:11:50 AM »
No, the "gold coat" was the color of the kapton covered by aluminium. No gold involved.
Well, it is like this: The truth doesn't need insults. Insults are the refuge of a darkened mind, a mind that refuses to open and see. Foul language can't outcompete knowledge. And knowledge is the result of education. Education is the result of the wish to know more, not less.

Offline onebigmonkey

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Re: "Foil & duct tape" on the landers
« Reply #16 on: March 09, 2017, 02:33:39 AM »
These two images were posted on a facebook group I'm in showing a rather naked lunar module during a museum renovation.






Offline Dalhousie

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Re: "Foil & duct tape" on the landers
« Reply #17 on: March 12, 2017, 11:49:33 PM »
No, the "gold coat" was the color of the kapton covered by aluminium. No gold involved.

Does this apply to all apparent "gold foil" used to cover spacecraft?

Offline Allan F

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Re: "Foil & duct tape" on the landers
« Reply #18 on: March 13, 2017, 11:41:29 AM »
Yes, AFAIK.
Well, it is like this: The truth doesn't need insults. Insults are the refuge of a darkened mind, a mind that refuses to open and see. Foul language can't outcompete knowledge. And knowledge is the result of education. Education is the result of the wish to know more, not less.

Offline ka9q

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Re: "Foil & duct tape" on the landers
« Reply #19 on: July 22, 2017, 04:49:36 AM »
That's correct. Gold is actually not a particularly good exterior material for a spacecraft unless you want to get it very hot in the sun. Like most metals it's a poor thermal radiator but because of its visible color it absorbs shorter solar wavelengths quite well. So it gets very hot.

What's visible to the eye is literally only half the equation when it comes to thermal coatings in space.

Offline Apollo 957

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Re: "Foil & duct tape" on the landers
« Reply #20 on: July 23, 2017, 03:48:12 AM »
While there's a good (I assume) explanation on the page I'm not clear what the "gold tape" on the thermal layers is or why the panels at the top left of the picture appear ill-fitting (distorted?).

IMHO, the panels aren't part of the pressure vessel which formed the crew cabin, and were just there to provide thermal cover for elements below which could be exposed to vacuum, but not necessarily to sunlight. As folks have said, aerodynamics were not a concern.

This leads to a similar kind of misunderstanding amongst Team Hoax as was created by the flexible outward-hinged thermal shield over the ISS airlock door. They see this bending and flapping, and cry "That can't be a real door!", but the real door is below, and opens inward, into the airlock.