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RTG effectiveness


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I have recently designed a deep space probe with at least some eye on economy, and noted that a 57% scale RTG produces .1 ec/s, but nudging it up to 58% produces .2 (figures from memory, so forgive a potential small error).

Does anyone know if the ec charge production for RTGs is analog like that, or at 57% is it really producing ~.198 EC/s ?

Additionally, I don't much care how long it takes to transmit back as it is a fly-by probe, but considering all it needs to power is a transmitting antenna for multiple (6?) instruments, would .2 EC/s be satisfactory?

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Yes, the value is just rounded on your display. It's actually calculated to many decimal places.

And it's more a question of how much realtime you are willing to spend sitting and watching the thing transmit/recharge, and whether you have enough battery to nearly complete the transmission on each instrument.

 

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It's possible to click on an antenna and set it to "allow partial", this allows the transmission to be made regardless of how little EC storage there is, even with absolutely minimal EC production you can just timewarp a few hours/days to complete the transmission.

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6 hours ago, Lego_Prodigy said:

Just put a ring of 8 RTGs inside of like a fuel tank, and kinda offset them into it for smoothness.

And go from a $50,000 probe to a $350,000 probe.   Those suckers aren't cheap.  And they add mass which kills your Dv and TWR of the ion drive.  

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