3 ms·
I would use Americium-241 instead, longer half life and much more availability. Lower power, but a telescope like this does not need constant power, so some ki
by ars 2y ago
I would use Americium-241 instead, longer half life and much more availability.
Lower power, but a telescope like this does not need constant power, so some kind of short term power storage (capacitor I would assume, or some kind of ultra long life battery) could handle that.
- fsckboy 2y agoin terms of the potential plutonium shortage, wikipedia: Americium-241 is not synthesized directly from uranium – the most common reactor material – but from the plutonium isotope 239. The latter needs to be produced first