A space blanket does hide your body heat from a thermal camera. That’s the problem: the camera finds the blanket instead.
The true part: the foil reflects the heat your body radiates back at you. That’s how it keeps you warm, and why a thermal camera can’t see through it.
The part nobody mentions: a thermal camera reads what a surface gives off plus what it reflects. Shiny metal gives off almost nothing. A metal ring at skin temperature can show up far colder than the skin around it.
h/t Matt Bracken on X
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