And so it begins...

long tall smiley said:
It was feared that it would crash back into earth after launch, spawning a race of mutant humans and forest critters that would wreak havoc on us "normals"
I dunno what you're lookin at but I see no "normal" here. :D
 
zengirl said:
This is quite interesting, I found this on cnn:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/07/01/saturn.rings/index.html



I had to chuckle at the "nuclear powered" bit.
what else would they power it with?

They take and coat some plutonium balls with iridium and use the heat generated to power the spacecraft. The iridium barrier keeps the plutonium from reacting chemically.

On a side note, I was talking to my grandfather about some stuff I needed help with in my Materials science class (i'm working on my mechanical engineering degree and we have to take all these materials classes) and got on the topic of metal reactions. He mentioned that his research paved the way for this technology. Apparently he did a mass spectrometer study on plutonium and the only substance he found that he could use for the crucible was iridium because it's melting point was much higher than plutonium and the highly reactive Pu239 samples he was testing didn't react with it. He showed me the study and everything, it was a fairly interesting read.
 
CletusJones said:
what else would they power it with?

They take and coat some plutonium balls with iridium and use the heat generated to power the spacecraft. The iridium barrier keeps the plutonium from reacting chemically.

On a side note, I was talking to my grandfather about some stuff I needed help with in my Materials science class (i'm working on my mechanical engineering degree and we have to take all these materials classes) and got on the topic of metal reactions. He mentioned that his research paved the way for this technology. Apparently he did a mass spectrometer study on plutonium and the only substance he found that he could use for the crucible was iridium because it's melting point was much higher than plutonium and the highly reactive Pu239 samples he was testing didn't react with it. He showed me the study and everything, it was a fairly interesting read.
How many asses does your grandfather have?
 
long tall smiley said:
Holy crap there were a lot of names there that I can't pronounce.

yes, he appears to have gone a little overboard on these names.
 
CletusJones said:
what else would they power it with?

They take and coat some plutonium balls with iridium and use the heat generated to power the spacecraft. The iridium barrier keeps the plutonium from reacting chemically.

On a side note, I was talking to my grandfather about some stuff I needed help with in my Materials science class (i'm working on my mechanical engineering degree and we have to take all these materials classes) and got on the topic of metal reactions. He mentioned that his research paved the way for this technology. Apparently he did a mass spectrometer study on plutonium and the only substance he found that he could use for the crucible was iridium because it's melting point was much higher than plutonium and the highly reactive Pu239 samples he was testing didn't react with it. He showed me the study and everything, it was a fairly interesting read.


grampas are pretty cool for stuff like that.

Mine grampa is an engineer and he tells me all sorts of stuff that he's worked on. He mainly did nuclear power plants, etc... but I found out the other day he also designed an engine for harley davidson and all sorts of cool things.
 
crazymike said:
grampas are pretty cool for stuff like that.

Mine grampa is an engineer and he tells me all sorts of stuff that he's worked on. He mainly did nuclear power plants, etc... but I found out the other day he also designed an engine for harley davidson and all sorts of cool things.
that's awesome! Mine worked with all sorts of nuclear stuff. He was on the design team for a new type of reactor.

We were talking about politics last week, and the name John Kerry just kept coming up... Apparently my grandfather knows him, Kerry is 1000% anti-nuclear and ended up killing the funding for the reactor they were working on, not to mention all sorts of other projects. Kerry's a douche.