Solar power hobbles another spacecraft? (The comet lander crippled)

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.

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.

On Friday, November 14, 2014 5:21:24 AM UTC-5, wrote:
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.

You can use other isotopes. Strontium, Polonium, Americium. The Russians used $10M worth or Polonium to kill that dissident, they could have spared some.

On Friday, November 14, 2014 7:18:21 PM UTC-5, RichA wrote:


You can use other isotopes. Strontium, Polonium, Americium. The Russians used
$10M worth or Polonium to kill that dissident, they could have spared some.

OK then, what would a Po RTG look like for a 10-year mission?

On Saturday, November 15, 2014 5:59:44 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Friday, November 14, 2014 7:18:21 PM UTC-5, RichA wrote:


You can use other isotopes. Strontium, Polonium, Americium. The Russians used
$10M worth or Polonium to kill that dissident, they could have spared some.

OK then, what would a Po RTG look like for a 10-year mission?

Outstanding characteristics.

Plutonium-238 has a half-life of 87.7 years, reasonable power density of 0.54 kilowatts per kilogram

On Saturday, November 15, 2014 11:01:49 PM UTC-5, RichA wrote:
On Saturday, November 15, 2014 5:59:44 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Friday, November 14, 2014 7:18:21 PM UTC-5, RichA wrote:


You can use other isotopes. Strontium, Polonium, Americium. The Russians used
$10M worth or Polonium to kill that dissident, they could have spared some.

OK then, what would a Po RTG look like for a 10-year mission?

Outstanding characteristics.

Plutonium-238 has a half-life of 87.7 years, reasonable power density of 0.54 kilowatts per kilogram

I was asking about Po not Pu.

On 2014-11-14 10:21:23 +0000, said:

Pu-238 is in short supply.

No it's not. The Japanese had so much in storage at Fukushima Daiichi
that they could have probably built an Eiffel Tower out of it.

And most anybody with a reactor can make it.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2014 16:01:21 -0800, Oregonian Haruspex
wrote this crap:

On 2014-11-14 10:21:23 +0000, said:

Pu-238 is in short supply.

No it's not. The Japanese had so much in storage at Fukushima Daiichi
that they could have probably built an Eiffel Tower out of it.

Then why wasn't Godzilla there? Besides, the Eiffel Tower is mostly
air.


This signature is now the ultimate
power in the universe

On Saturday, November 22, 2014 7:01:23 PM UTC-5, Oregonian Haruspex wrote:
On 2014-11-14 10:21:23 +0000, wsnell01 said:

Pu-238 is in short supply.

No it's not. The Japanese had so much in storage at Fukushima Daiichi
that they could have probably built an Eiffel Tower out of it.

And most anybody with a reactor can make it.

But separating it from the isotopes that you DON'T want...

On Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:33:38 -0800 (PST), 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.

Practically nobody is opposed to using RTGs. But that doesn't make
them the technology of choice for every application. That would have
been a poor engineering decision in this case.