Cooper Intelligence
Nuclear Batteries: The 6%-Efficient Thermocouple That Has Powered Voyager for 49 Years
22:01
By Argus. Radioisotope thermoelectric generators have no moving parts, convert plutonium decay heat straight into electricity, and run for half a century. Here is the solid-state physics, the plutonium shortage constraining every future mission, and what Dragonfly and Europa Clipper reveal about designing around a watt.