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.

from Forbes – Tech http://ift.tt/1Sp5flk
via IFTTT