Plutonium shortage may scupper future outer solar system research.

[3488]

<p style="text-indent:0in;text-align:left" class="TXSText" align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Arial"><font color="#000080">&nbsp;Not good.</font></span></strong></p><p style="text-indent:0in;text-align:left" class="TXSText" align="left"><strong><font color="#003300"><em><span style="font-size:8pt;font-family:Arial">This story was updated at 4:15 p.m. EST, March 7.</span></em> </font></strong></p><p style="text-indent:0in;text-align:left" class="TXSText" align="left"><strong><font color="#003300"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">NASA is facing the prospect of trying to </span><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial">explore deep space without the aid of the long-lasting nuclear batteries it has relied upon for decades to send spacecraft to destinations where sunlight is in short supply.</span> </font></strong></p><p style="text-indent:0in;text-align:left" class="TXSText" align="left"><span style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial"><strong><font color="#003300">NASA Administrator Mike Griffin told a House Appropriations subcommittee March 5 that the U.S. inventory of plutonium-238 - the radioactive material essential for building long-lasting batteries......</font></strong> </span><strong><font size="3">Article here</font></strong><strong>.</strong></p><p><font size="2" color="#800000"><strong>Andrew Brown.</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[windnwar]

<font size="2">Depending on Russia for the supply is a bad idea, especially when we don't even know where we stand with the new president there. If they aren't producing it, they'll be pretty damn hesitant to sell us the remaining amount. <br /><br />I'd say congress needs to pull out the checkbook and get busy on getting production restarted. I'm sure some other agencies want it too. </font><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font size="2" color="#0000ff">""Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." --Albert Einstein"</font></p> </div>