Plutonium Propels Spacecraft To A Close Encounter With Pluto

Plutonium Propels Spacecraft To A Close Encounter With Pluto

Having the same namesake as the planet it helped to explore, the radionuclide plutonium-238 powered NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto on Tuesday, visiting the last planet in our Solar System proper. Pu-238 will now take the spacecraft out into the Kuiper Belt where thousands of small planets slowly circle the Sun. The mission was possible only because Pu-238 generates continuous power out where solar energy is too weak, chemical energy is too heavy, and batteries and fuel cells are too short-lived to be of use.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2015/07/16/plutonium-propels-spacecraft-to-a-close-encounter-with-pluto/