Bob Camp wrote:
Hi
The gold color in a space thermal blanket is from - gold. The normal formula is to use gold leaf and tissue paper (not quite the Kleenex variety, but similar) in layers. The gold leaf is *very* good for IR reflection. The tissue paper is porous enough that there's very little air trapped in it. The real insulation is the vacuum (courtesy of mother nature). The gold leaf and the spacer material just take care of the IR part of the equation without adding a lot of conductivity.
Bob
I'm pretty sure they don't use tissue paper anymore..
Too many particulates and/or outgassing..
(and, cynically, too cheap)
But really, if you've got optical instruments on the spacecraft,
particulates and outgassing are a big, big deal.
And, if you're heading to somewhere interesting, planetary protection
means that you need to be able to cook it at a high temperature to kill
everything.
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