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[pct-l] ultralight solar cells
At 10:49 PM 10/16/03, Gray wrote:
>Um, I'd be really interested in hearing where you heard about these, simply
>because the amount of fissionable materiel needed is way more than anyone
>that thruhikes would be willing to carry.
The soviets had some radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) which are
sometimes called "nuclear batteries" though there is no fission, just heat
from nuclear decay. They used them in some spy satellites, which caused
some concern due to re-entry. They also used them to power lighthouses in
the artic.
The USA used them too, but in deep space applications like Voyager, where
solar panels wouldn't work.
Not good for backpacking. Too heavy, and too "hot" to handle.