“The isotope of interest for space is americium-241…Its half-life is a staggering 432 years, five times longer than plutonium-238.”
“The isotope of interest for space is americium-241…Its half-life is a staggering 432 years, five times longer than plutonium-238.”
It also costs about 10 times as much as gold. Still actually cheaper than Pu-238 though but hard to put a price on Pu since it isn’t for sale.
As an alpha emitter it is as dangerous as Polonium but it doesn’t dissolve in water. It is easily shielded but if it gets in your body it causes lots of damage, similar to Plutonium.
To -make-, yep. As the article pointed out, there’s a lot of Amercium in waste dumps where old smoke detectors … and anyone can make it. Five times the half-life means it can power much longer missions.
I like to recover old smoke detectors and eat the americium. I’m well on my way to becoming captain americium.
Seems kinda dangerous to do radioactive materials scrapping, but if you got the safety protocols and equipment worked out then it’s a living
The length of missions is not currently and will not in the short or medium term be limited by the lifespan of plutonium.
Except in regions where there is no access to Pu … as the article itself pointed out.