Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

We're Running Out of the Nuclear Fuel That Powers Space Travel
Gizmodo ^ | December 2, 2014 | Sarah Zhang

Posted on 12/02/2014 7:57:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Rosetta's lander lasted just 60 hours on a comet after it bounced into the dark shadows of a cliff, where its solar panels couldn't power the vehicle. Why didn't it carry a more reliable power source, say a nuclear battery like one that's unfailingly fueled Voyager for decades? It's a simple question with a fascinating answer, one that begins with the Cold War and ends with the future space exploration.

When it comes to space travel, plutonium-238 is the perfect fuel: long-lasting and, as I'll explain later, relatively safe. Without it, we have no hope of going much further than Mars, after which it simply becomes too dark to rely on solar panels, the most common alternative power source in space. But the world is rapidly running out of plutonium-238. Because we've stopped making nuclear weapons.

Cold War origins

Plutonium-238, you see, is a byproduct of producing plutonium-239, better known as the main ingredient in nuclear weapons. During the Cold War that birthed the space race, this was a rather convenient fact. The Savannah River Site in South Carolina that made plutonium-239 for bombs also turned out plutonium-238 for satellites and space probes. After Savannah River shut down in the 1980s (only to linger as an environmental disaster), NASA began buying plutonium-238 from Russia.

NASA has sent since pellets of plutonium-238 on the two Voyager spacecraft, the Curiosity rover on Mars, and several other space probes exploring the dark outer reaches of our solar system.

Plutonium-238 also happens to be the perfect fuel for spacecraft. Although highly radioactive, the kind of radiation it emits does not easily penetrate through other material, making it safe. Wrapped in iridium metal, pellets of plutonium-238 glow red hot, giving off plenty of heat....

(Excerpt) Read more at gizmodo.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Government; Military/Veterans; Science
KEYWORDS: blowback; churyumovgerasimenko; coldwar; comet; comet67p; disarmament; iridium; nuclearenergy; nuclearpower; nuclearweapons; philae; plutonium238; plutonium239; rosetta; savannahriver; sc; southcarolina; space; spaceexploration; spaceprogram; wmd

1 posted on 12/02/2014 7:57:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

More unintended consequences.


2 posted on 12/02/2014 7:58:58 PM PST by Crazieman (Article V or National Divorce. The only solutions now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe we can buy some from Iran


3 posted on 12/02/2014 8:14:16 PM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

For later


4 posted on 12/02/2014 8:16:22 PM PST by Omniscient Certitude
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

What about dilithium crystals?


5 posted on 12/02/2014 8:18:42 PM PST by xp38
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ZOOKER

yeah, let them have Hanford cleanups in their hoods.


6 posted on 12/02/2014 8:24:34 PM PST by RitchieAprile
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

HOW MUCH IS FREEREPUBLIC WORTH TO YOU?

If you read FR a lot like me, would it shock you to wake tomorrow and not be able to read it?

I’m talking to the members, but I am also talking to those who have not signed in.

I can access FR from work, but I cannot log in.

I can see the breaking news, see the responses and corrections.

I can see silly posts and zots.

I can see my FRiends talking with each other.

When I get home, I can respond and post and interact.

If you are not a FReeper, you can still donate. Just push the button.

$5.00 is perfectly acceptable.


7 posted on 12/02/2014 8:25:04 PM PST by Jet Jaguar (Resist in place.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Make lots of nuclear weapons, use to nuke all Muslims, refine/process as needed to create desired isotopes.
Solves two problems as the same time.

You are welcome.

;-)


8 posted on 12/02/2014 8:38:32 PM PST by GladesGuru (Islam Delenda Est. Because of what Islam is - and because of what Muslims do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RitchieAprile
Maybe we can buy some from Iran

yeah, let them have Hanford cleanups in their hoods.

Not quite the response I was expecting.

This was an attempt at gallows humor. The idea was that the US could buy U-238 from Iran, the country currently attempting to extract weapons-grade U-239 for missiles aimed at us ( and Israel).

Really not very funny

9 posted on 12/02/2014 8:41:02 PM PST by ZOOKER (Until further notice the /s is implied...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: GladesGuru

10 posted on 12/02/2014 8:43:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: ZOOKER

maybe not funny, but in a way truthful. every country that possesses these weapons have devastated a certain amount of their acreage.


11 posted on 12/02/2014 8:46:06 PM PST by RitchieAprile
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: ZOOKER

Or if we behave, from Israel.
Back when the Oslo Accords were negotiated they were believed to be producing twenty-five to thirty-five additional warheads per year.


12 posted on 12/02/2014 9:40:55 PM PST by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MrEdd

Probably the best source would be China now that it is modernizing its military and nuclear forces. Unfortunately, the PLA may have other plans for all of their burgeoning stock of U238 - their planned Mars and Lunar colonies ...


13 posted on 12/03/2014 4:59:41 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think the premise of this article is wrong.

Savannah River Site is still open and running.

The Wikipedia article doesn’t say anything about us not still making fuel for NASA that I saw.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_River_Site

Though it could be there.


14 posted on 12/03/2014 9:30:59 AM PST by Conan the Librarian (The Best in Life is to crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and the Dewey Decimal System)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson