Tamas Rudnai <tamas.rudnai <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> Is it safe to be launch stuff like that? I mean then those space crafts
> include radioactive reactors in some possible risky way. How do they start
> the reactor? And when?

In most cases, there is no reactor. The problem is not the launch, but
uncontrolled reentry. The devices are designed to surivie a launch accident (and
this has been proven by real accidents). They are also designed to survive
uncontrolled reentry and this is also proven, but sometimes s**t happens. There
is a lot of literature on the web about accidents, real and potential (most of
it from crackpots of various sorts). A desription of the device(s) is here:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTG

Peter P.


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