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Object

Kapton

A curved, reflective gold sheet with a smooth, glossy surface is shown against a dark background, representing Kapton, a polyimide film known for its high temperature stability and use in spacecraft insulation.

A polyimide film developed by DuPont in the 1960s, stable from cryogenic temperatures to over 400 Celsius. It is used as thermal insulation on virtually every modern spacecraft. Webb's sunshield is built from five layers of Kapton coated with aluminium and doped silicon, each layer between 25 and 50 micrometres thick, totalling the area of a singles tennis court.

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