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7/16/2025, 1:24:04 AM
>>16725386
Not without ramping up plutonium-238 production. It's the only effective power source on deep space missions, and Cassini needed 73 pounds of the stuff. The US has maybe 50 pounds in its stockpile, much of which is already earmarked for other missions. We've even had to buy it from Russia, since domestic mass production of it was cut in the 1980s.
Not without ramping up plutonium-238 production. It's the only effective power source on deep space missions, and Cassini needed 73 pounds of the stuff. The US has maybe 50 pounds in its stockpile, much of which is already earmarked for other missions. We've even had to buy it from Russia, since domestic mass production of it was cut in the 1980s.
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