I had a fascinating discussion with a NASA engineer. He said that one problem with a Mars mission is that dust would make solar panels useless in as little as
3 months! They would like radioisotope thermoelectric generators instead but they are politically incorrect now.
So would I. I had to get up on the roof and hose and brush down my solar panels last week. At least on Mars they don't get bird shit building up on them.
** IIRC, the "Mars Rover" ran for much longer than that.
** Yeah - those damn Martians are so PC.
.... Phil
Amateur troll.
You might like to explain how I can run a rural property on nothing more than solar panels (even though I have a couple of hydro generators providing power as well). I run about 2400W 24/7 just with water pumps alone during spring and summer. Yes, solar power is so over rated.
And risk was the reason they abandoned the idea of launching nuclear waste into the sun. too many launches end up as ball of fire spreading goodness knows what.
In the "believe it or not" category:
Between 1970 and 1988 hundreds of patients were implanted with heart pacemakers powered by Plutonium "batteries". Some recipients lived with those for over 20 years.
Is that like being in a tank with a gold fish Vs being in a tank with a great white shark?
Face it, if you need a pacemaker, you're pretty fscked anyway and miniscule radiation exposure isn't going matter any way. They just don't want the devices to be cremated with the body.
Some people need pacemakers because of a specific defect in their hearts, and with a pacemaker can expect to have a normal lifespan.
Sylvia.
Yep, and hopefully no one here has that. but I think the numbers are closer to what I said.(There is always an annoying exception.)
Mum died at 93 and had a pacemaker, was replaced 2 or 3 times as the batteries go flat eventually.
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