Astronomy
Power far from the Sun
Look inside a radioisotope power source. Follow heat through thermoelectric couples and adjust the electrical load and radiator area.
The model and its limits
Two thermal nodes, Pu-238 heat decay as the mission runs (the age slider is the age at launch) and the shared constant-property Seebeck circuit. Heat evolution runs 25 times faster; one second of play is the set number of mission years. This is a teaching model, not a calibrated generator or reactor.
Equations used in the module
Equations Q = Q0 2^(-t/87.7 yr); I = alpha (T_h-T_c)/(R_i+R_L); P = I² R_L; C_h dT_h/dt = Q-Q_h; C_c dT_c/dt = Q_c-epsilon sigma A(T_c^4-T_space^4)
