Trip to Space Sparks Idea At Home
     
   Like most children at some age in their early childhood I dreamed of being an astronaut and traveling into space. But then the reality sets in that those dreams most likely will never happen. While looking through new technology events that are happening around the world I stumbled on to one that was quite frankly out of this world and well into another. What I’m talking about is Mars. The title of the article was is “Nuclear 'space battery' bests solar in Curiosity Mars mission” and it was written by a man named Martin LaMonica.

   

            An artist's rendition of the Curiosity robot designed for round-the-clock scientific experiments.

(Credit: NASA)

In his article he talks about how in August NASA will be sending another rover to mars. Only this time it will be different. This rover will not be powered by the normal solar panels that are attached to most unmanned space equipment. No this rover will be powered by a nuclear generator. The designers had this to say, “Designers hope the nuclear generator will make the mobile robot more productive as it conducts science experiments in the search for conditions to support life. Once it arrives on Mars, the robot will be heated and powered electrically from a ceramic form of plutonium dioxide. The nuclear decay from that block, which is covered in multiple protective layers, generates heat that is circulated with a series of heat-transferring tubes. The generator includes a thick cylinder about two feet tall to house the heat source and has fins to dissipate the heat. “(LaMonica Martin, 2011)

            The reason for using this generator is very simple. Because they are not using solar panels the robot will be able to go places that there is no sun light and it will no longer have to be powered down at night. When talking about how long the generator could last NASA said many years even though the mission is 23 months. This article gave me an idea that could possible benefit people back on earth in other ventures rather than space expeditions.

If we can use a nuclear generator to power this machine what is stopping us from taking that technology and using it to create a power cell to run something such as a car. I understand that it being nuclear means that it is unstable but any large power cell is unstable, but that has not stopped us from exploring those routes in the past. The new Chevy volt is an electric car that has a rechargeable power cell. Just think if you took it one step further and added a power cell that never even had to be charged. Think of the money that people would save.

           

LaMonica Martin. (2011, 11 21). Nuclear 'space batter'y bests solar in curiosity mars mission. Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57329365-76/nuclear-space-battery-bests-solar-in-curiosity-mars-mission/?tag=mncol