Curiosity rover landing

[KitemanSA]

This may have been the last mission for a while in that, I am told, the unit used most of the remainder of the global supply of Pu238 in its power unit. No more Pu238, no more deep space probes?

[D Tibbets]

This may have been the last mission for a while in that, I am told, the unit used most of the remainder of the global supply of Pu238 in its power unit. No more Pu238, no more deep space probes?

Perhaps, but there are alternatives. The Juno mission to Jupiter is using solar cells. Further improvement in Solar call efficiency allows them to be used further from the Sun. Also,there are alternate radio isotopes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisoto ... _generator.

Improvements in thermocouple technology can compensate for much of the shortcomings. Or a Sterling engine may serve for greater efficiency.
The Russians at least has considerable experience in using fission reactors.

What may actually be in the pipeline though is uncertain, except of course for a next generation Polywell or Focus Fusion, or FRC machine...

Dan Tibbets

[paperburn1]

This may have been the last mission for a while in that, I am told, the unit used most of the remainder of the global supply of Pu238 in its power unit. No more Pu238, no more deep space probes?

New batches of plutonium-238 may become available to NASA starting in 2017, perhaps preventing feared shortages of this vital spacecraft fuel At the planned production rate of up to two kilograms [about 4.4 pounds] per year, target fabrication and target processing can be accomplished in existing facilities modified as needed for upgrades to equipment and support services," Caponiti said. "It will take approximately six to seven years to reach this rate of production, depending on the funding profile."

[DeltaV]

Interesting mission write-up.

http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.asp ... 94.xml&p=1

The part at the end about losing the acquired skills due to budget cuts is endemic in the aerospace industry and is a major contributor to future program costs and failures.

A legacy of McNamara's Harvard Business School approach from the 1960s, where engineers are treated as fungible commodities, acknowledging the repeatable "science" of engineering but totally ignoring the intangible "art", which is not even considered in management processes such as 6 Sigma, Lean, etc. and is thus invisible to statistics morons such as McNamara and his bean-counting minions.