Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s...
by gumby on Thursday July 28, 2022 @07:16PM
(#32271207)
> All of this is on top of the usual telescope-reliability concerns
I'd hope less of a risk of micrometeorites (though it would have to look on its own for incoming projectiles and take evasive action). Then again, 900 AU is in the middle of the Oort Cloud so perhaps there's a lot of small junk out there too.
Re:Mission to reach and operate at the focal region of the s...
by jessriedel on Thursday July 28, 2022 @08:29PM
(#32271715)
> But your RTG will decay while the spacecraft travels (Voyager's RTG has already lost 30% of capacity).
So just bring 50% more? I don't think the weight of the Pu-238 is a key limiting factor on this mission.
This is one of the reasons for papers such as this one: exploring what meaningful solutions to these problems, and meaningful mission profiles, would actually look like in practice.