this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2024
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What's the specific energy and power? If it isn't terrible, could be very good for things like spacecraft.
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.
Yeah, RTDs. But I don't know if these semi conductor based ones would have better performance.
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.