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A Wikipedia page[1] claims that Chandrayaan-3 used Am241 but the referred article does not mention anything. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_
by krunck 2y ago
A Wikipedia page[1] claims that Chandrayaan-3 used Am241 but the referred article does not mention anything.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_power_systems_in_space https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_power_systems_...
- qayxc 2y agoReading the linked source the tells you that the RHUs were not installed on the rover due to mass constraints and might instead be used in future missions. The propulsion module carried an experiment, though, which was wasn't used for providing actual heating and a test only.
- perihelions 2y ago- "It is thought[by whom?] that national security reasons delayed the disclosure to the media." Ludicrous. More realistic is they were afraid of negative media coverage and protests about the potential public health hazard to their people. In the US, NASA goes to extreme lengths to qualify their space radioisotope devices, their survivability and how they fail in a failed rocket launch or unplanned atmospheric reentry. All of which is transparent to the public, and to independent review. There's AFAICT the opposite of such transparency and accountability here. It's not clear at all what degree of risk this (at-the-time secret!) radioisotope launch had, how the containment device was engineered and what potential (secret) flaws it could have.