New Horizons looks very Kerbal

[John FX]

So I looked at the probe which will get to Pluto in a year and I noticed the very obvious NTG stuck out of the side and thought "surely they could have clipped that in"

I see they have two. Wouldn`t it be nice if we had a `gold wrap` to put over probes and things?

Apart from that it looks like something we could make in the VAB...

[Scotius]

Contrary to KSP, real life RTG's do much more than just generate electricity. Heat and radiation is an issue too, and you do not always want those close to delicate instruments.

[pxi]

Wouldn`t it be nice if we had a `gold wrap` to put over probes and things?

Could be onto something here tho... (Providing you don't need to right-click anything under the foil however, which could be a pain.)

[Sky_walker]

We're launching rockets with nuclear engines, and you're worried about RTGs. lol

[lajoswinkler]

So I looked at the probe which will get to Pluto in a year and I noticed the very obvious NTG stuck out of the side and thought "surely they could have clipped that in"

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2014/07/13/pluto-new-horizons-b4abd6e40d80c44baab0604d30e0b80c974badf4-s40-c85.jpg

I see they have two. Wouldn`t it be nice if we had a `gold wrap` to put over probes and things?

Apart from that it looks like something we could make in the VAB...

RTG produces a lot of heat, so you need to radiate it away in vacuum, hence the radiator flaps. The unit must not be too close to the probe itself because it will affect the instruments with its gamma and beta rays, not to mention the heat rays.

If you want gold wrap, install Procedural Parts mod. It has such texture for fuel tanks, structural elements, batteries, etc.

[Idobox]

RTG produces a lot of heat, so you need to radiate it away in vacuum, hence the radiator flaps. The unit must not be too close to the probe itself because it will affect the instruments with its gamma and beta rays, not to mention the heat rays.

If you want gold wrap, install Procedural Parts mod. It has such texture for fuel tanks, structural elements, batteries, etc.

RTG don't normally generate a lot of radiation. The ones used in space application usually run on Pu238, an alpha emitter. Also, the heat they generate could be dealt with.

The main reason they are outside is that the colder they are, the more electricity they generate. The principle is to use heat from decay and Seebeck effect diodes to generate electricity, but the Seebeck effect is dependent on temperature difference, so you need to evacuate heat. In space, that means radiators and as little stuff as possible around it.

[John FX]

RTG produces a lot of heat, so you need to radiate it away in vacuum, hence the radiator flaps. The unit must not be too close to the probe itself because it will affect the instruments with its gamma and beta rays, not to mention the heat rays.

If you want gold wrap, install Procedural Parts mod. It has such texture for fuel tanks, structural elements, batteries, etc.

The gold wrap I`d like would cover a multitude of random parts and look like the image there, not just fuel tanks. Like a closer fitting procedural fairings but made of gold foil.

[lajoswinkler]

RTG don't normally generate a lot of radiation. The ones used in space application usually run on Pu238, an alpha emitter. Also, the heat they generate could be dealt with.

The main reason they are outside is that the colder they are, the more electricity they generate. The principle is to use heat from decay and Seebeck effect diodes to generate electricity, but the Seebeck effect is dependent on temperature difference, so you need to evacuate heat. In space, that means radiators and as little stuff as possible around it.

Not enough to harm you, but sensitive electronics in vacuum? Charge buildup and arching in microchips, bremmstrahlung, those are all significant problems engineers have to deal with, and they do. Obviosly.

Not only they're outside, but they're mostly away from the craft so the interfering is as low as possible.

The gold wrap I`d like would cover a multitude of random parts and look like the image there, not just fuel tanks. Like a closer fitting procedural fairings but made of gold foil.

Procedural heatshield with mylar texture, maybe? It kind of looks ok.

[Camacha]

There are good reasons those are kept as far from the spacecraft as reasonably possible. It prevents heat transfer and radiation problems. Look at other probes, they pretty much do the same.