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2005-06-27 Home Front: Tech

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Posted by Steve White 2005-06-27 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The only application of P238 appears to be in radiothermal generators especially for satellites.

Posted by phil_b 2005-06-27 01:43|| 2005-06-27 01:43|| Front Page Top

#2 Read - GMD and SPACE-based LASERS, Nuke SPACE ENGINES, and BCNW/TCNW. i.e. manportable to light mobile Batttlefield/Tactical Conventional Nuclear Weapons, vv STARSHIP-/STAR WARS TROOPERS. Every Amer boy should have a laser anti-tank weapon for Xmas, NOW D*** YOU!? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.....

Posted by JosephMendiola">JosephMendiola 2005-06-27 02:58|| n/a]">[n/a] 2005-06-27 02:58|| Front Page Top

#3 Robotics is an interest of mine. There is one application that autonomous robots are far superior to humans, which is surveillance/observation of remote areas. Lets say you know terrorists are using several dozen routes across a large desert area to reach urban areas. The terrorists will use any particular route rarely and there is local population sympathetic to the terrs which makes inserting and supplying onservations posts difficult and any particular post will have a high risk and a low chance of paying off. An autonomous OP will operate 24/7 without resupply as long as its power source lasts. The largest and best fuel cells last a couple of weeks at most, what is required is a power source that lasts for months. There are several other applications for these kinds of devices (with a long lasting power supply). My favourite is the submarine tracker.

Posted by phil_b 2005-06-27 05:28|| 2005-06-27 05:28|| Front Page Top

#4 Satellite power supplies. Not only does it provider a much longer life than batteries, it also eliminates the need for large "Solar Wings". This combination greatly improves the flight characteristics for orbital maneuver. Also reduces the visible profile, making them far harder to hit.

Given the recent "leaks" about space warfare and "stealth" satellites, and now this, you can do the math yourself.

Posted by OldSpook 2005-06-27 12:16|| 2005-06-27 12:16|| Front Page Top

#5 The Voyager space probes, launched in 1977, were fueled with plutonium and will run thru 2020, although NASA may stop listening before then. IIRC, the Cassini (Saturn) probe was also 238-fueled, and caused a big stink when it was launched - well, after all, the launch vehicle could've exploded, killing zillions!

Posted by Bobby 2005-06-27 12:36|| 2005-06-27 12:36|| Front Page Top

#6 Acording to a picture caption at the site linked in #1, Plutonium isotopes are
primarily alpha-emitters so they pose little
risk outside the body. Here the plastic bag,
gloves, and outer (dead) layer of skin would
each alone stop the emitted alpha particles from entering the body. Meaning the spec has to be inhaled, not resting on your skin. A technical detail omitted in all of the media.

Posted by Bobby 2005-06-27 12:43|| 2005-06-27 12:43|| Front Page Top

#7 Don't Russian Ocean Recon satellites use a reactor? They always have that bizzare end of life boost (hopefully, I think one didn't go) to a safe higher orbit.

Posted by Shipman 2005-06-27 13:25|| 2005-06-27 13:25|| Front Page Top

#8 The article naturally invites a false conclusion by failing to mention a very significant and relevant fact: Pu-238 is not fissionable, it cannot be used in nuclear bombs. Pu-239 is the fissionable isotope used in bombs.
Given their contempt for numbers, proportion, and other nerdy concepts, pop-culturist Moonbats would probably ask, "hey, man, what difference can one little number make?"
Interestingly enough, Pu-238 is something like 300 times as radioactive as Pu-239 and commensurately harder and more hazardous to handle. You could kill yourself stone-dead with a very small amount of it, but you could not make it explode.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-06-27 13:44|| 2005-06-27 13:44|| Front Page Top

#9 AC, here's a picture of a bizzare UK outhouse...
raf_b4

Posted by Shipman 2005-06-27 15:06|| 2005-06-27 15:06|| Front Page Top

#10 Doesn't look very comfortable.
raf_b3

Posted by Shipman 2005-06-27 15:08|| 2005-06-27 15:08|| Front Page Top

#11 Sorry, Shipman, I don't get it.

Posted by Atomic Conspiracy 2005-06-27 15:45|| 2005-06-27 15:45|| Front Page Top

#12 Pu-238 is something like 300 times as radioactive as Pu-239 and commensurately harder and more hazardous to handle.

Pu-238 is still primarily an alpha emitter, though there is some neutron decay. With a half-life of 88 years, it's clearly hot, but it's not ridiculously so. Like all plutonium isotopes, the main risk is the extreme toxicity associated with all heavy metals.

Of course, the first sentence tell us all we need to know about the author, stringing together the words Bush, radioactive and deadly. Nope, no agendas here.

Posted by Dreadnought 2005-06-27 15:57|| 2005-06-27 15:57|| Front Page Top

#13 Atomic Conspiracy, are you cleared for Deep WC?

Posted by zygote w/ no name 2005-06-27 16:00|| 2005-06-27 16:00|| Front Page Top

#14 It's where the Plutonium cores were kept at one of two RAF sites. The metal seals have been removed from the hole.... one outhouse one core. The UK built more outhouses than bombs to confuser the Russ.

Posted by Shipman 2005-06-27 16:00|| 2005-06-27 16:00|| Front Page Top

#15 Shipman: WTF?????

Posted by Dave D. 2005-06-27 16:01|| 2005-06-27 16:01|| Front Page Top

#16 They're located at RAF Barnahm

Posted by Shipman 2005-06-27 16:03|| 2005-06-27 16:03|| Front Page Top

#17 Is that anything like the Illudium PU-239 Explosive Space Modulator? I always new you Earthlings would blow yourselves up someday with an earth-shattering kaboom.

Posted by Marvin the Martian 2005-06-27 16:53|| 2005-06-27 16:53|| Front Page Top

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