Quote:
Originally Posted by mjohnson
Worse than that - Plutonium litter. Like the worst kind of all of the Plutoniums!
We made the 238Pu heat sources for the radioisotopic thermal generators that powered the thing. Lots of us signed a plaque that got reproduced really small and stuck onto the thing. Kind of cool to think that my signature just burned up into Saturn!
Super well built - many have reentered from Earth orbit with no release. This one (the heat source) will probably just fall to "whatever" is the surface and sit there for another 20-50 years when it will eventually rupture from the helium generated by the rapid 238Pu decay. Then many Saturnains might perish. We may never know...
We also kind of invented a few of the onboard instruments, but those were on the conehead side of the lab. I'm just a (one-time Pu) materials guy so I don't understand those fancy widgets.
(also see our 238Pu trinkets most recently on the Mars Rovers!)
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Love this post! The rest of us in NM always wonder what kind of wizardry you kids are up to in those labs..