Talk:Plutonium-238

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Space missions that used Plutonium-238

List is incomplete, please add to it

Spacecraft	Launch date	Mission	Amount used
Tansit-4A	1961-06-29	U.S. Navy Navigation	[1]
New Horizons	2006-01-19	Flyby of Pluto	11 kilograms (24 lb)[2]
Curiosity	2011-11-26	Mars rover	3.5 kilograms (7.7 lb)[3]

Additional sources

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator Development
Using Nuclear Fuel for Future NASA Missions Gets Boost
Kramer, David (2011). "Shortage of plutonium-238 jeopardizes NASA's planetary science missions". Physics Today. 64: 24. doi:10.1063/1.3541938.
Planetary exploration’s radioactive decay
NASA Science Officials: News Not Entirely Bleak for Mars, PU-238 Restart Still Needed
US Pu-238 Production Remains Unfunded
Assessment of Plutonium-238 Production Alternatives
Role and prospects
Maharik, Michael; Fischhoff, Baruch (1993). "Public views of using nuclear energy sources in space missions". Space Policy. 9 (2): 99. doi:10.1016/0265-9646(93)90023-3.
Aftergood, Steven (1989). "Background on space nuclear power". Science & Global Security. 1: 93. doi:10.1080/08929888908426325.

Wiki Education assignment: Cold War Science

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 January 2022 and 6 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Barr0069 (article contribs).