Lack Of Oxygen And Numbness Emphysema

nuclear nuclear battery and fly by the USS Nautilus

Diagram of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG)

How would give power space probes like Voyager, Cassini or Viking, who have traveled (or still traveling) a million miles? The solution was found almost half a century, and passed, of course, by the use of radioactivity. Meet the radioisotope thermoelectric generator, the RTG.

A marvel of humanity: the Voyager 1 spacecraft, equipped with three RTGs

It works almost like a conventional battery, the heat generated by the radioactive material (plutonium 238, 244 and Stroncio Curio 90 are the most common) is transformed into electrical energy. Some of these items have a shelf life of 87 years giving energy a constant or even increasing it if required.

Diagram of a GTR in its container

Space probes are structures of over half a ton of weight, so that the RTG installed they can reach 50 kilos (the Cassini below you see here has 7.5 kilos of plutonium 238). The nuclear fuel is fully shielded so they do not disperse in the event of an accident (which has been).

Assembly

Cassini

The advance of nuclear technology is creating more powerful RTGs, safe and lightweight. It is the only power that enables long journeys in space and in the future, would be essential for human bases on the Moon or Mars. As you read this, Plutonium 238 is fueling Voyager 1 over 17,000 million miles from home. You know.

Thanks to Wikipedia for existing and Jordi Barcia by the suggestion the subject.