NASA Running Low On Fuel For Space Exploration 282
smooth wombat writes "With the end of the Cold War came warmer relations with old adversaries, increased trade and a world less worried about nuclear war. It also brought with it an unexpected downside: lack of nuclear fuel to power deep space probes. Without this fuel, probes beyond Jupiter won't work because there isn't enough sunlight to use solar panels, which probes closer to the sun use. The fuel NASA relies on to power deep space probes is plutonium-238. This isotope is the result of nuclear weaponry, and since the United States has not made a nuclear device in 20 years, the supply has run out. For now, NASA is using Soviet supplies, but they too are almost exhausted. It is estimated it will cost at least $150 million to resume making the 11 pounds per year that is needed for space probes."
buy it from North Korea or Iran (Score:5, Funny)
Or if that wont work it looks like there is a decent chance we'll be able to buy some from the Taliban soon.
In unrelated news... (Score:5, Funny)
Read the gnikcuf summary (Score:5, Funny)
Can't wind farms and solar energy suffice?
No. Wind farms work on the relative velocity between the ground and the atmosphere, but in space, there's no ground and almost no atmosphere. And the summary states: "there isn't enough sunlight to use solar panels".
Re:buy it from North Korea or Iran (Score:5, Funny)
there is a decent chance we'll be able to buy some from the Taliban soon.
Buy it from Pakistan now, before the Taliban takes over.
Re:Look to newcomers? (Score:5, Funny)
problem is they will most likely want to deliver it themselves.
Re:buy it from North Korea or Iran (Score:5, Funny)
Nah, we'll just invade a few years later searching for weapons of mass destruction. Then, after a few short weeks, the dictator will be gone, we'll have our plutonium, and (as a side benefit) the North Korean people will love us! Foolproof plan.
Re:Beam energy? (Score:5, Funny)
You're right. About the first part.
Re:Uranus is dark? (Score:5, Funny)
No, remember, Uranus is where the sun doesn't shine.
Re:Read the gnikcuf summary (Score:5, Funny)
Never has a "woosh" post been more relevant than in a thread poking fun at wind power...
In your face, Edwin Starr! (Score:5, Funny)
War! Huh! What is it good for?
Space exploration, apparently.
Really???? (Score:1, Funny)
Are there people in this country naive enough to believe the United States hasn't made a nuclear device in 20 years??
Re:buy it from North Korea or Iran (Score:5, Funny)
What do you tell these people? How will they react? How will you govern them?
It can work, as long as you think about these issues along with the rest of the invasion plan. Going in and just expecting to be greeted as liberators is criminally naive.
Re:Hm, an idea (Score:5, Funny)
That's what your body thetans want you to think.
A bit like this? (Score:3, Funny)
[wavy lines, as we look into the crystal ball [today.com] ...]
North Korea has threatened to carry out nuclear missile tests unless the UN Security Council apologises for its "unseemly snickering" at their recent rocket launch falling into the sea.
"The communications satellite was successfully launched and is fulfilling its mission, sending transmissions from Pacific Ocean life in deep space," a Pyongyang communique said today. "If the UN does not take back its grievous slanders, we will be forced to retaliate with the full force of our mighty nuclear arsenal. Our dad will beat up your dad too."
North Korea conducted its first and only nuclear test in 2006, described as "completely successful" and "revealing new dimensions in gunpowder science."
North Korea's foreign ministry also said "the UN should apologise for infringing our sovereignty, retract all its resolutions and decisions against us and stop being big meanies. It's so unfair!"
It also announced plans to build a light-water nuclear reactor, a domestic robot, a flying car and a "really cool thing we haven't finished drawing yet, but expect to have ready soon as our great nation continues to make tremendous advances in crayon science."
Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il announced a glorious 30% increase in industrial output and a 35% increase in food production as the cardboard ran out and the factories started shaping raw contaminated mud into loaves. South Korea sighed at the news and looked forward to a peace dividend similar to that reaped by Germany in 1990 when the North finally collapses and they have to clean up the mess.
Re:Read the gnikcuf summary (Score:3, Funny)
Actually, you don't need an atmosphere to turn a windmill. They could be powered by the flows of the aether. This method (pushing against the aether) is the same means by which rockets move in space, so it's proven technology.
Oblig BTTF quote... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:A bit like this? (Score:2, Funny)
I didn't know they employ Comical Ali now :)
Someone has to say it... (Score:3, Funny)
It looks like their stocks are literally decaying away!
Bwahahahahahaha...ahaha...ha...ha..h
Yeah, I'll get my coat.
Re:In unrelated news... (Score:3, Funny)
Precisely! Instead of all this nuclear material, NASA could just use... a bolt of lightning.
Re:about plutonium (Score:1, Funny)
'...*I work at a nuclear power plant, and we generate 1.2 gigawatts of electrical power..."
1.21 gigawatts?!! Great Scott!