• GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee
    ·
    8 months ago

    First thought: Is this just another RTG model? I've worked in that field. They've been around a long time. They power satellites, etc. They're expensive, heavy and inefficient.

    Second though: Oh, they're going with direct electron capture. That's neat. I don't know much about those. Carbon/diamond as a capture material is good and cheap.

    FTA:

    The nuclear battery generates power every second and minute, producing 8.64 joules of energy per day and 3,153 joules of energy per year.

    That's not how radioactive decay works. I mean, yeah, the half life is 100 years, so this is pretty stable, but it's gonna go down. (Incidentally, daughter products are Cu63 (stable) and an electron.)

    Also, you do NOT want radio isotopes floating out in the wild. Watch any of Plainly Difficult's videos on nuclear incidents and it's not good.