Appropriations Bill Threatens Future Space Science Missions

Posted by Soulskill on Monday September 12, 2011 @06:08AM from the give-us-plutonium-or-give-us-death dept.

ColdWetDog writes "A brief story in the Atlantic notes that the U.S. Senate's energy appropriations bill has failed to supply funds to continue Plutonium-238 production, needed for radioisotope generators for NASA's interplanetary probe programs. No PU-238 means no more missions like Cassini-Huygens, or ones that go places where solar cells won't produce enough power. The article notes that the only other source of PU-238 is Russia — either through the government or through trolling through Siberia and the Russian coastline looking for old Soviet Era lighthouses and power stations."

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Re:No need for it, go SOLAR! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-09-12 06:11 · Score: -1, Offtopic

I was about to ask if you were effing retarded, then I saw your username...
RTFS
Nice Post by ads+free · 2011-09-12 06:19 · Score: -1, Offtopic

Nice story submitted http://adsplazza.com/