The design uses China’s first diamond semiconductor material.
  • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    132·
    6 months ago

    What’s the specific energy and power? If it isn’t terrible, could be very good for things like spacecraft.

    • MilderRichter@feddit.deEnglish
      20·
      6 months ago

      Deep space probes are already nuclear power sources.

      Right now this is mostly a radio isotope heat source and a peltier device to convert the temperature differential to electricity.

        • WHYAREWEALLCAPS@kbin.social
          3·
          6 months ago

          Not for space craft if what @MilderRichter says is right. To generate power from a peltier you need a temperature differential between the two sides. It is very hard to bleed off heat in space since it’s a vacuum. That means a temperature differential is very difficult to achieve and it takes power to do that. Which would necessitate more of these, which means a bigger or additional heat removal system, which means you need more of these, which means a bigger or additional heat removal system, etc, etc, etc.

    • Oderus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      245·
      6 months ago

      With all the CCP misinformation about them making 5nn chips, this could be another bullshit tech coming from the CCP.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    5 months ago

    Meanwhile the Voyager proves launched in 1977 are still live and kicking. Yeah one of them is getting pissy at us but it’s still rolling.

        • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          2·
          6 months ago

          With the amounts being talked about, it’s not really that much of a concern. We aren’t talking about putting a demon core in your pocket.

          • PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            5 months ago

            One individual Duracell is also pretty harmless but I sure am glad that people don’t throw them into nature.

                • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  1·
                  5 months ago

                  I took “waste stream” to mean “the process after a device is no longer used.” Some waste is recycled, some is out in landfill, and more than should ends up in nature.

                  Most of the time, these types of things would be recycled. But obviously that doesn’t happen all the time. The rest of the time will be dominated by landfill, but that’s actually not that huge a problem. It’s not like the metals are going to grow legs and run around irradiating stuff any more than a Duracell. The last group is the environment proper, but keep in mind there’s already radioactive shit out and about in the world. You can find radioactive rocks literally just laying on the ground. It’s not actually that much of a danger unless a large amount of radioactive material (or a small amount of highly irradiated material which this is not) manages to find its way into a pile.

                  Honestly, I’d be more concerned about the conventional pollution aspect than the radiation.