Many satellites carry gold-coated mylar sheets to protect them from solar heat. A thin layer of gold on an astronaut's helmet visor fends off dangerous effects of solar radiation.
Gold helps protect against corrosion from ultraviolet light and x-rays and acts as a reliable and long lasting electrical contact in onboard electronics. Gold is also used by NASA in the construction of spacesuits.
NASA'S USE OF GOLD
Gold acts as an incredible shield against radiation and heat from the sun.
In our solar system alone, there is an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter named 16 Psyche that scientists believe contains more than 700 quintillion dollars in gold and other precious metals.
According to scientists, there may be billions of dollars worth of precious substances such as gold, platinum, diamond buried deep in asteroids, and pieces of space debris.
There is an asteroid with a metal-composition that lurks around between Mars and Jupiter while orbiting the Sun and it is made up mainly of gold. Named 'Psyche 16', it was first discovered in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis and he named the asteroid after the Greek Goddess of Soul 'Psyche'.
Satellite imaging has shown that the top 10 centimetres of regolith (moon soil) at the south pole of the moon appear to hold about 100 times more gold than the richest mines on earth. Only a few years ago, most geologists would have laughed at the idea of mining anything from our moon.
The moon isn't so barren after all. A 2009 NASA mission—in which a rocket slammed into the moon and a second spacecraft studied the blast—revealed that the lunar surface contains an array of compounds, including gold, silver, and mercury, according to PBS.
In addition, lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, niobium, molybdenum, lanthanum, europium, tungsten, and gold have been found in trace amounts.
The best estimates currently available suggest that around 208,874 tonnes of gold has been mined throughout history, of which around two-thirds has been mined since 1950. And since gold is virtually indestructible, this means that almost all of this metal is still around in one form or another.
An asteroid in space has been identified as having a value of approximately $700 quintillion. If NASA were to capture the asteroid and distribute its resources among people, each individual would receive around $93 billion!
The short answer to the questions posed in this article title is: Yes! gold traces have indeed been identified within the lunar soil. Back in October 2009, NASA conducted a mission called LCROSS, which involved crashing a booster rocket into the Moon at nearly 6,000 miles per hour.
Gold is rare on Earth in part because it's also rare in the universe. Unlike elements such as carbon or iron, it cannot be created within a star. Instead, it must be born in a more cataclysmic event —a short gamma-ray burst (GRB), like one that occurred last month.
Did you know that gold is extraterrestrial? Instead of arising from our planet's rocky crust, it was actually cooked up in space and is present on Earth because of cataclysmic stellar explosions called supernovae. CERN Scientist David Lunney outlines the incredible journey of gold from space to Earth.
First, gold is capable of absorbing radiation at a significantly higher rate than tissue: up to about 100 times more for keV energies (2). Second, gold nanoparticles that interact with radiation can release extra electrons via the Auger effect. The Auger effect occurs when an atom releases electrons postionization.
Some people think that the gold foil is there to block electromagnetic radiation and to protect the electronics on the spacecraft, but the function is actually thermal. Without the foil, heat would readily escape from the space probe into the coldness of space. In return, the Sun's heat would fry the equipment.
Whether or not diamonds could thrive in a Martian mantle is less well studied. By modeling the red planet's formation, Desch's research revealed that a process similar to what happened inside Earth could have produced diamonds on Mars, with a magma ocean covering the planet for a few million years.
For only $160 billion, you can buy ... Mars!
Scientists have found an oil field containing 200 times more hydrocarbons than the amount of water that currently exists on Earth. But there's the rub. The oil field is 1,300 lightyears away.
One study found there is only about one gram of gold for every 100 million metric tons of ocean water in the Atlantic and north Pacific. There is also (undissolved) gold in/on the seafloor. The ocean, however, is deep, meaning that gold deposits are a mile or two underwater.
Scientists have found evidence of cubic zirconia in Moon rocks, showing that the universe not only holds diamonds, but its own fire-safe knock-offs. Space could be absolutely shimmering with precious stones, though Mao emphasizes that they probably aren't quite like the ones in earthlings' jewelry boxes.
All of the gold that's deposited in our planet was formed during the explosions of stars and collisions of asteroids, and eventually found its way to earth over time.
There are some extremely valuable resources on the moon that could support such a lunar economy. Helium-3 is one moon resource that is rare on earth but much more abundant on the lunar surface and could potentially be cheaper to mine from the moon. Helium-3 is a very attractive fuel for future nuclear fusion reactors.
The Outer Space Treaty means therefore that - no matter whose national flags are planted on the lunar surface - no nation can 'own' the Moon.
Eventually, scientists calculated that the Sun contains almost 2.5 trillion tons of gold, enough to fill Earth's oceans and more. Still, that's just eight atoms of gold for every trillion atoms of hydrogen — a tiny amount when compared to the mass of the Sun. But how did gold come to be in the Sun and Earth?