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Americium: How a small element could power the next century of space exploration (interestingengineering.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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"The isotope of interest for space is americium-241....Its half-life is a staggering 432 years, five times longer than plutonium-238."

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[–] 8 points 11 months ago (1 child)

Well, not at low temperatures, stirling engines still need heat.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago

    My understanding of space engineering is that getting rid of heat is a bigger problem. Makes me wonder how much of efficiency of Stirling engines are lost due to extra weight and complexity for heat exchangers and radiators.

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