CNN: U.S. considers plutonium space rockets

guffaw of the week (and we NEED one this week...)

U.S. considers plutonium space rockets

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/0...ion=cnn_latest

Friday, September 2, 2005; Posted: 11:49 a.m. EDT (15:49 GMT)

SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) -- The United States is poised to produce plutonium-238 for the first time since the end of the Cold War but it will be used for space missions, not weapons, officials said this week.

*Perfect* timing! The general populace should be just about ready to
start stringing up environmentalists. So plutonium production should be
less of a political problem in the near future.

wrote:

*Perfect* timing! The general populace should be just about ready to
start stringing up environmentalists. So plutonium production should be
less of a political problem in the near future.


For what it's worth, I have over the years defended the use of sturdy
RTGs to clue-challenged people who are baffled as to why we can't use
solar cells when going to say, Neptune.

--
It Came From C. L. Smith's Unclaimed Mysteries.
http://www.unclaimedmysteries.net

On 2 Sep 2005 10:58:10 -0700, "
wrote:

*Perfect* timing! The general populace should be just about ready to
start stringing up environmentalists. So plutonium production should be
less of a political problem in the near future.



Hey Loather....are BOTH of your testicles un descended?

"Jim Oberg" wrote:


guffaw of the week (and we NEED one this week...)

U.S. considers plutonium space rockets

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/0...ion=cnn_latest

Why is it funny? This has been in the works for months - we've all
known the decision was coming soon one way or another.

And I hate to point out what should be obvious - the whole country
doesn't stop because a small area (of the total, though it's vast by
itself) is in dire straits.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

"Derek Lyons" wrote
Why is it funny? This has been in the works for months - we've all
known the decision was coming soon one way or another.

PLUTONIUM ROCKETS ??????????????????

"Jim Oberg" wrote:


"Derek Lyons" wrote
Why is it funny? This has been in the works for months - we've all
known the decision was coming soon one way or another.

PLUTONIUM ROCKETS ??????????????????


Ah - the title. Sorry, I've been to serious this week (Between
Katrina and real estate troubles of my own) to recognize subtle humor.

Mea Culpa.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

On Fri, 02 Sep 2005 20:14:02 GMT, "Jim Oberg"
wrote, in part:

PLUTONIUM ROCKETS ??????????????????

I missed the joke too - that a resumption of Pu-238 production,
presumably for use in RTGs in NASA projects, is automatically assumed to
mean, well, since NASA is going to be using it, it must mean that
Project Orion has risen again.

I guess we can shortly expect from CNN a story about how NASA is going
to make a space rocket powered by concentrated orange juice crystals...

John Savard
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
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John Savard wrote:


I guess we can shortly expect from CNN a story about how NASA is going
to make a space rocket powered by concentrated orange juice crystals...



How about Pinot Grand Fenwick wine?
Seriously, I wonder if the plutonium for classified programs is for
military space use of some sort (RTGs for reconsats, etc.) or is for the
production of the controversial "bunker-buster" bombs?

Pat

Pat Flannery wrote:

How about Pinot Grand Fenwick wine?

Probably goes well with ham roast a la cobalt thorium-G.

Seriously, I wonder if the plutonium for classified programs is for
military space use of some sort (RTGs for reconsats, etc.) or is for the
production of the controversial "bunker-buster" bombs?

Press and other accounts of cold war submarine cable tapping programs
and other monitoring equipment in remote locations like the Himalayas
mention the use of RTG's for power.

How does Pu-238 figure into "bunker-buster" bombs?