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Posted by tourdemars to Technology at April 5, 2004 04:39 PM
Los Alamos National Laboratory gives the Mars rovers a warm feeling all over. That feeling isn't love - not exactly. It's plutonium heat. "Without our devices the Mars rovers would have to use battery power to keep their electronics warm," said Jeff Huling, a Los Alamos scientist. "That would cut down on the lifespan of the mission. Our heaters have extended the lifetime of each rover from 20 days to 90 days or more."TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.marsnews.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/393
This is the results from all the nuclear activist of the early 70's an into the 80's. Now even non bomb making applications are feeling what has been done. Are there any other less lethal radioactive heat generating nuclear materials that would do or is this the most stable over time.
Posted by: Harold LaValley at April 5, 2004 07:41 PM
What gets me is that we dont even use true fission for our missions. NASA spaecraft, having the benefit of a true reactor could do amazing things. I don't see that the risks involved during launch are noticably reduced by not using fission. Again, this is yet another case of an under-educated American population not becoming a hinderance to true science. Funny how ignorance breeds like roaches..
Posted by: zach at April 6, 2004 12:45 PM
I think that most people believe that the unit is live at launch time and that if it were to explode then we would have created a dirty bomb is what most people fear.
Posted by: Harold LaValley at April 6, 2004 01:25 PM