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It might not have great power density but boy does that thing keep going for decades
by FredPret 2y ago
It might not have great power density but boy does that thing keep going for decades
- jaggederest 2y agoFull power for ~10,000 years, give or take.
- fragmede 2y agoNo. You're thinking of nuclear waste. Voyager's RTG lasted "only" a few decades.
- jaggederest 2y agoDesign choice, not an inherent constraint. Plutonium has a half life in excess of 25000 years
- chickenbig 2y ago> Design choice Presumably this is why Pu-238 is used for RTGs where power density matters; a half life of 87.7 years means a reasonably long working life using with only 1/3% of the mass compared to Pu-239.
- jaggederest 2y agoOh yeah you're probably right, I didn't think about it being a different isotope. I figured they just kept it near-critical to keep it toasty instead of a shorter half life.
- mlindner 2y agoLong half life also means low energy output.