Yeah I don't know how else to use nuclear radiation to make power except by heating water into steam. I know nasa has played with tiny reactors for spacecraft, but I don't know how they work. Perhaps they have something like a solar panel sitting next to a uranium rod and it generates electricity from that instead of photons?

[–] revolut1917@hexbear.net 21 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

They take advantage of the Seebeck effect which is where a voltage is generated between two points in a conducting material when there's a temperature difference between them. Basically the nuclear material heats one piece of metal in the circuit, while another remains cold, and this produces a potential difference between the two that drives current through the circuit. Because space is very cold and nuclear materials are very hot, this produces a useful quantity of current. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

[–] Cat_Daddy@hexbear.net 13 points 6 days ago (2 children)

So they're going to have to scale this method way the fuck up to get to 100kw.

[–] revolut1917@hexbear.net 14 points 6 days ago

yeah it'd be very unfeasible

load more comments (1 replies)