by eric_b » Mon 21 Aug 2006, 15:25:03
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Grifter', 'W')ell it didn't blow my mind as it doesn't surprise me that TPTB want to militarize space.
I didn't know we were already using plutonium to power vehicles like cassini though. I checked up on the NASA web site and its true
Those RTGs are a perfect use for plutonium. The ultimate in battery technology. I did a post on the specs for some of RTGs a while back. Capable of delivering 100's of watts for decades on end. Essentially the heat from the decay of the plutonium is converted directly to electricity via a thermocouple.
The voyager space probes are now decades old and so far from the sun that solar panels would be useless. But their RTGs are still providing enough juice to run them.
There a lots of far worse things to worry about, IMO, like the tonns of naturally occuring radioactive elements that get spewed from coal fired plants each day.