Actually, sounds like a very solvable problem.
And if the gov't would allow people like Space-X to solve it, we'd save a ton of cash.
-XC
The article says that "The DOE believes a relatively modest $10 to 20 million in funding each year through 2020 could yield an operation capable of making between 3.3 and 11 pounds of plutonium-238 annually — plenty to keep a steady stream of spacecraft in business." And we all know how good the gov't is at sticking to budget forecasts. $20M a year isn't so much for a big company, but SpaceX will have to find customers to cover that cost. Plutonium batteries are mostly used for gov't applications, so if you end up with SpaceX replacing some other contractor on NASA and NSA projects, not much has changed. (SpaceX, not unlike Tesla, is already largely funded by gov't.) The commercial interest in space is primarily in launching satellites and maybe tourism one day. The market's need for plutonium batteries seems to be a long way off. Maybe they could sell posters of Saturn.sounds like a very solvable problem
I doubt it.