On Thursday, November 13, 2014 10:33:40 PM UTC-5, RichA wrote:
So the probe will only last for a couple days now, because it landed such that
the crappy solar panels only get 90mins of sun per day, not enough to keep it
alive. Imagine if they'd used an RTG instead. Then, they it might last for
YEARS, much like the magnificent Cassini spacecraft at Saturn. I know Plutonium
and other transuranics are expensive, and how the radical leftist environmental
SCUM would like to eliminate them, but the fact is, there is NO alternative in a
power-starved, freezing environment lacking much sunlight.

Pu-238 is in short supply... there might not be any point in wasting it on a comet mission until all of the bugs are worked out of such missions.