Subject: Re: OT: Voyager watts

From: chris <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon May 12 13:21:00 2003

>From what I remember, those probes (and most (all?) other deep space probes, I
>think), use a radioisotope decay generator for power.  This is a
>sub-critical-mass nuclear power plant; it uses the heat produced by a
>near-critical lump of plutonium to generate electricity, rather then using
>fission to produce heat to produce electricity.

So is this the power supply all those whiney people were bitching about 
NASA trying to put into a Mars probe? They were all afraid the probe 
would explode during launch and be ground zero of a nuclear blast (or 
some other most likely vagely based on reality doomsday outcome activists 
are notorious for).

-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>

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From: "J.C. Wren" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon May 12 14:02:00 2003

Vaguely true.  They're concerned about a pad explosion or unexpected reentry 
that could result in plutonium being scattered around the countryside.  
Plutonium is an extremely toxic metal.  1 microgram will kill you damn quick.  
Plus it's readily absorbed by tissue, which means everywhere you have a Pu 
speck, you're irradiating tissue with ionizing radiation in a few centimeter 
radius.  Not good for a long term outlook.

	Incidently, the tree huggers worries on this matter are not completely 
unfounded.  Because of launch weight issues, the shielding material is not 
really designed to survive reentry. 

	--John

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From: "TeoZ" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon May 12 14:20:01 2003

Well since there is still a spacestation orbiting the globe you can send a
shipment of just the fuel in packages (I assume quite a few could be
launched for the weight of 1 space probe) that will withstand re-entry to
the station and then load these batteries as needed into probes and launch
them from there. Most of the weight of a launch vehicle is just to get the
payload out of earths gravity, very little is needed once your in deep space
to achieve a nice cruising speed.

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From: Vintage Computer Festival <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon May 12 14:47:00 2003

> some other most likely vagely based on reality doomsday outcome activists

Well, considering the recent catastrophes in NASA's record, I don't think
these concerns are exaggerated.

-- 

Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage Computer Festival
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International Man of Intrigue and Danger                http://www.vintage.org

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