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Indeed, there are a lot of engineering challenges related to the distance. Solar power is much, much dimmer at 900 AU -- that's like 20x Pluto distance -- so yo
by fennecfoxen 4y ago
Indeed, there are a lot of engineering challenges related to the distance. Solar power is much, much dimmer at 900 AU -- that's like 20x Pluto distance -- so you'll need to bring something like an RTG. But your RTG will decay while the spacecraft travels (Voyager's RTG has already lost 30% of capacity). Once there you'll need a lot of power to transmit data the back with any sort of speed or reliability. All of this is on top of the usual telescope-reliability concerns; in many ways it would make the James Webb telescope mission look straightforward.
This is one of the reasons for papers such as this one: exploring what meaningful solutions to these problems, and meaningful mission profiles, would actually look like in practice.
- gumby 4y ago> All of this is on top of the usual telescope-reliability concerns I'd hope less of a risk of micrometeorites (though it would have to look on its own for incoming projectiles and take evasive action). Then again, 900 AU is in the middle of the Oort Cloud so perhaps there's a lot of small junk out there too.
- jessriedel 4y ago> But your RTG will decay while the spacecraft travels (Voyager's RTG has already lost 30% of capacity). So just bring 50% more? I don't think the weight of the Pu-238 is a key limiting factor on this mission.