LUCIFER PROJECT - 1st attempt at Jupiter - Analyzing what happened to the LWRHU’s of Galileo

Analyzing what happened to the LWRHU’s of Galileo

Much has been said about the larger plutonium-containing fuel cylinders on NASA’s Galileo (and Cassini) mission, the main RHU’s inside the RTG’s, but little has been said about the LWRHU’s, of which there were 120 on Galileo, and are 117 to 137 (accounts vary) on Cassini. Each of these little heaters carries a piece of plutonium the size of a standard pencil eraser head, about .006 pounds. It is interesting to study the path that these pieces take into the planets during a plunge also, because they are even more insulated and protected than the larger 1/3 pound cylinders. Also since they have a smaller weight they will take a significantly different path than the larger ones and therefore would not be expended in a critical blast from one of the main cylinders. If we assume that the O. Meeckers Jupiter mystery spot image from Oct. 19 was indeed the blast from a nuclear event of the larger cylinders going critical, then we must look at a situation where the smaller ones will go critical at a much later time and in a different area entirely. In addition to that fact, the smaller pellets, by the time they reach critical will be entirely dispersed from each other over 1000’s of miles, so each one will have its own opportunity to fizzle (the large majority) or go critical with a bang (the small minority if any). Estimating that only a small fraction will stay intact to the point that .006 (or less) pounds could go critical in the depths of Jupiter or Saturn, let’s assume for our argument that 5 or 10 (or pieces thereof) will have a chance, each in an entirely different point inside the planet. Let’s analyze a long-term journey of one of these eraser-sized pellets:

There are 6 layers of protection tightly surrounding one of these pellets, ½” aero-heat shield, 7/16” total of graphite-carbon insulators (4 insulators = 7/16” total), and .04” thick Rhodium-Platinum alloy. Inside sits the Pu-Oxide (Pu-238/239 plus a small amount of Oxygen) of .006 pounds.

Assume many of the pellet pods (carbon and metals minus the heat shield, originally about 1” diameter by 1.3” length), survived entry and are still valid at around 4000 miles into Jupiter where the pressures and temperatures are such that the surrounding .04” of rhodium-platinum and Pu inside turn to a liquid state as the graphite carbon layers turn to a hard pre-diamond, while the entire pellet pod is compressed to a smaller diameter. Around 5000 miles in, the carbon insulators have turned to a hollow diamond that surrounds the liquid mix described above. Around 7000 miles in the pod, highly compressed and much smaller now, has turned to a semi-liquid diamond surrounding a liquid center. Eventually the entire contents are likely mixed together as a dense liquid sphere of half the original diameter with each element maintaining a significant homogeneity (not mixing completely). If this pod somehow stays intact as this liquid sphere to the depth of 25,000 miles into Jupiter without dispersing it will turn back into a solid “impure post-liquid diamond”, simply because the pressures are so immense, the liquid state can no longer be held.

Portions of a Pu pellet surviving at any one of the depths listed above could arguably reach critical, even though very small in amount, simply because the pressures change the dynamics of what is critical mass at this depth. The wild cards are “What kind of mix survives this depth intact?” and, even with multiple breakups of the original units, “Will much smaller pieces find a way to stay intact falling ever-deeper until the outside density nears that of the mix?” Jupiter’s average density is 1.3 grams/cubic centimeter (Saturn’s avg. is .7). That occurs about 1/3 of the way into the planet. The conglomerate as a whole has a density much greater than that especially after being compressed, at least 7 grams/cubic centimeter. Add to this the motion of the shifting heavy liquid gases of Jupiter and gravity downwards to the center, the result is a very slow continued fall for any intact portion, any portion that can maintain any integrity at all. Only a complete breakdown and liquid dissolution of the initial fuel pod will stop its progress downward.

All of this is extremely speculative, and it is tremendously difficult to estimate the time it would take for various small pieces of this conglomerate to reach critical levels deep within Jupiter. It was estimated that the larger cylinders reached a depth of only 700 miles before reaching critical and fissioning. The smaller units we are talking about start out 50 times less in Pu mass, and about 7 times less in mass when including the graphite and metal elements minus the heat shield of both types of cylinders. This means a slower fall for the small ones, and a much longer wait for critical. This may be the reason that NASA it still counting down the time from the Galileo plunge even to the nearest second as of today, 8/9/2007 (the day I first wrote this). One critical fission implosion ignition of a very small amount of plutonium very deep into Jupiter can create temperatures of several 100’s of millions of degrees, overkill for fusion temperature thresholds. One relatively tiny superheat spark such as this could have tremendous significance in the bowels of Jupiter.