On Sun, 29 May 2011 22:48:17 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:


The price was right. An RTG would probably have doubled the cost.

They don't cost all that much, as they are pretty simple in design...
main cost is just the plutonium to power them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiois...tric_generator
Plutonium goes for around 44,000 per gram, so it would take an awful lot
to double Juno's cost.

It is far from just the cost of the RTG (which is not nearly as cheap
as you suggest), it is also the mountain of paperwork, safety studies,
and environmental impact studies that has to accompany one.

The simple fact remains that RTG power would have pushed Juno out of
its budget range and would have delayed Juno several years farther
down the road (which would have driven up costs even more.)

Who is to blame for the lack of RTG supplies is irrelevant. We don't
have the plutonium and wouldn't have had any until years after Juno's
original 2010 launch date. RTG was not an option for Juno.

Brian