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These aren't RTGs though, they are betavoltaic. Instead of using thermocouples to capture part of the decay heat (of plutonium, in Voyager's case), they generat
by saxonww 6y ago
These aren't RTGs though, they are betavoltaic. Instead of using thermocouples to capture part of the decay heat (of plutonium, in Voyager's case), they generate current from beta particles hitting a semiconductor.
- akvadrako 6y agoWhat’s the significance in that? I mean, why are beta particles less political than decay heat?
- saxonww 6y agoRTGs are only really useful with particular elements; plutonium is used because it emits a lot of heat for a very long time. People freak out about plutonium. I think these betavoltaic cells can use elements which are less likely to get people upset about proliferation or environmental effects. It's not the same thing at all, but I think you could compare these favorably with e.g. Americium in common smoke detectors (alpha decay). Edit: also your comment just said nuclear batteries and voyager, but these batteries are not anything like those batteries and should not be thought of as the same, regardless of politics.