| Posted: 10 December 2018 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | 6
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I'm always astonished the Voyagers are still powered by their plutonium** based RTG cells. Such a simple device -- radioactive decay generates heat and a thermocouple produces enough electricity to run the spacecraft.
Even more astounding -- the Voyagers are essentially 1960s technology. They may have been launched in the 70s but the hardware was developed in the previous decade.
**non-fissile Pu-238. It's still toxic and deadly, just less deadly than its bomb/reactor cousin Pu-239.
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