cynical_gramps t1_irj1d98 wrote
It occurs to me that we should make heavier use of nuclear batteries and the bigger the better. Dust wouldn’t be as much of a problem if our machinery cleaned itself up by simply carrying an electric charge but that would greatly shorten the life of said machinery unless it had a lot more juice that they do now.
docduracoat t1_irjabga wrote
you have a valid point that radio thermal generators could be used on these mars missions.
However it is a major problem to get plutonium for these batteries and it’s dangerous to send plutonium up from earth into space.
Everything is a trade off and you can bet NASA look very carefully at this question
cynical_gramps t1_irjbb5r wrote
Nothing says we can’t think of different designs.
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