4 ms·
Plutonium-238 decays to uranium-234: https://www.planetary.org/space-images/decay-of-pu-238-to-u-234 https://www.planetary.org/space-images/decay-of-pu-238-to-u
by philipkglass 2y ago
Plutonium-238 decays to uranium-234: https://www.planetary.org/space-images/decay-of-pu-238-to-u-234 https://www.planetary.org/space-images/decay-of-pu-238-to-u-...
U-234 has a 246,000 year half life and can be safely ignored when calculating the remaining heat output.
- foobarian 2y agoHeh. I got confused by the article: > ESA’s heater units will not only be a first for Europe, but the first anywhere to use americium-241, a by-product of plutonium decay that packs less power per gram than its predecessor ... except that decay occurs from Pu-241, a different isotope which is not what seems to be commonly used for RTGs, and has a half-life of only about 14 years.