4 ms·
Is that an idiom, or are they really "off the shelf" and not specially built for every space probe?
by berntb 10y ago
Is that an idiom, or are they really "off the shelf" and not specially built for every space probe?
- extrapickles 10y agoThey are "off the shelf" in that you can give them a call and in 6 weeks have one. I suspect they obtain and load the nuclear material for your order, but the rest of the device is stocked as it involves custom semiconductors which have fairly large minimum orders. These are the class of battery that would replace the CMOS battery in something that can never lose power to its RAM, rather than the much more powerful RTGs that space probes use.
- aminorex 10y agoPart of a spectrum from MEMs through pacemaker batteries, Cassini-style RTG, pebble-bed reactors, up to massive GE/Siemens style LWRs. It's a remarkably scalable tech, both up- and down- scale.
- XaspR8d 10y agoCityLabs manufactures specific product lines that aren't special-built.[1] The price is still "contact us" but they are purchaseable and I've heard of a few popping up on marketplaces before. [1] - http://www.citylabs.net/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=20 http://www.citylabs.net/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wr...