# Did the astronauts have to assemble the Lunar Rovers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-astronauts-have-to-assemble-the-lunar-rovers/839041>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 22, 2019, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-astronauts-have-to-assemble-the-lunar-rovers/839041 "2019-08-22T04:18:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-astronauts-have-to-assemble-the-lunar-rovers/839041/21 "2019-08-23T20:42:57Z")

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> [@robby](#):
>
> It’s kind of funny that NASA would repeat this misconception on their own government website. :rolleyes:

I did check the [Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook](https://books.google.com/books?id=-GYGlwG8PkUC&pg=PA173) as well as the [MLI guideline](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19990047691.pdf) (PDF) document and you’re right they do mention goldized kapton as one of the materials used for MLI. But if it’s still used, it’s pretty rare - the standard MLI design uses aluminized polyimide. And I still think the above web site was written by someone who didn’t know, because it specifically says “gold-coated mylar” which is not even mentioned in these cites.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-astronauts-have-to-assemble-the-lunar-rovers/839041/22 "2019-08-23T20:45:32Z")

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And the reason why gold was used on the astronauts’ visors is that it’s by far the cheapest metal, by area. That layer of gold is really, really thin, thinner than it would be possible to get a layer of any other metal.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-astronauts-have-to-assemble-the-lunar-rovers/839041/23 "2019-08-23T20:49:45Z")

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> [@Chronos](#):
>
> And the reason why gold was used on the astronauts’ visors is that it’s by far the cheapest metal, by area. That layer of gold is really, really thin, thinner than it would be possible to get a layer of any other metal.

That may be true for mechanically rolled metal film, but I think the visors had vacuum-deposited coatings. There are a variety of metals that can be vacuum-deposited in as thin a layer as you want.

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