Without gold, man wouldn’t have visited the moon. Gold, in the form of sheets 0.15mm thick, are used in space programmes as a radiation shield. Because gold is such an effective reflector, it deflects the burning heat of the sun.

Gold is central to safe space travel, so it’s demand has obviously grown as the space industry has. For example, more than 40.8 kilograms of gold was used in the construction of the famous US Columbia space shuttle, mainly in brazing alloys, fuel cell fabrication, coated plastic films and electrical contacts.