Back when I had a "real" job, I worked at the plant where the Plutonium-238
nuclear fuel for that spacecraft was made. A friend of mine worked on the
team that finished off the fuel pellets. He, along with other members of
his team, signed a card that described their role in making the fuel. That
card was later photographed onto a microdot that, along with other
microdots from other teams, was included in its payload. His signature is
riding inside that spacecraft, alongside the record with the earth sounds
and the other stuff you remember from the news back then.
Pu-238 has the strange property that it gives off heat as it undergoes
normal nuclear decay . They use thermoelectric generators to make
electricity from the heat. Neat long-term fuel source, but VERY expensive.
Jerry W4UK
At 10:28 AM 3/3/2002 -0600, Don Hill AA5AU wrote:
>Just read an article on the USA Today website about NASA
>Scientists contacting the Pioneer 10 spacecraft on Friday 7.4
>billion miles from earth. Wow! That's twice the distance of
>Pluto.
>
>http://www.usatoday.com/news/healthscience/science/2002-03-02-nasa-pioneer.htm
>
>Now that's what I call Digital DX!!!
>
>73, Don AA5AU
>http://www.aa5au.com
>http://www.geocities.com/writelog
>
>
>
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