GOLD by M M Eboch Content Consultant Andrea Brickey PhD Associate Professor Mining Engineering and Management South Dakota School of Mines Technology INSIDE THE INDUSTRY BUSINESS BIG Essential Library An Imprint of Abdo Publishing abdopublishing com
1 GOLD IN SPACE The Mars Global Surveyor which functioned from 1996 to 2006 mapped Mars using a gold-plated telescope mirror The purpose of using gold on the telescope was not to show off or to waste money Rather the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA uses gold for its reflective ability The Mars Global Surveyor used the telescope to chart the surface features of Mars The gold plating on the mirror captured infrared radiation that had bounced back from the planet’s surface Gold has special properties that make it ideal for a variety of unusual purposes It is one of the best materials for reflecting infrared radiation a type of invisible energy that is felt as heat Gold can also be applied in an extremely thin coating Many parts of space vehicles use a thin gold film By reflecting the infrared radiation the film helps control the temperature inside the spacecraft A thin layer of gold is also used on astronaut helmets to filter out the sun’s dangerous rays Closer to Earth many satellites are protected from solar heat by gold-coated films And this is only one of the unusual uses of gold in space and on our planet Without gold the Mars Global Surveyor could not have done its job 5
