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Re:Photo shows Mars rover descent by rmc on Monday August 06, 2012 @01:54PM (#4346285)
You're also ignoring the political/emotive aspect.

People don't like things called 'nuclear'.

Re:Photo shows Mars rover descent by jlgreco on Monday August 06, 2012 @01:57PM (#4346300)
There are certainly some places that would probably be more accepting of it than average. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_RTG.jpg ;)

Those are 10 watt Sr90 RTGs, sitting around. The used to use them for lighthouses.

Re:Photo shows Mars rover descent by InclinedPlane on Monday August 06, 2012 @02:29PM (#4346457)
Well... as much as I like RTGs and even fission reactors there is a little bit of justification there. Of necessity an RTG pretty much needs to contain hazardous radioisotopes. Putting that into the hands of every joe blow is probably not the best idea at present.