Dr. Conca reports that the Pluto mission was possible only because the radionuclide Pu-238 generates continuous power far out in space where solar energy is too weak, chemical energy is too heavy, and batteries and fuel cells are too short-lived to be of use.
As a planetary geologist, getting to Pluto is a big deal. This small planet holds some interesting secrets from the beginning of our Solar System. It also has some bizarre features that shows it to be a more active planet that we could have imagined.
Pluto has a variety of ices in its crust, not just water and methane ice. There are geologic features we saw this week on both small planets that indicate crustal motion and not just mere passive cratering of a dead surface. There are mountain ranges on Pluto, valleys as large as our Grand Canyon on Charon, and some areas on both worlds with no craters, indicating extreme youth and geologic activity.
Cryovolcanoes, liquid nitrogen geysers, and other active geologic processes have already set Pluto and Charon apart from other icy bodies orbiting the giant planets of the outer Solar System, especially as the heat source for such activity is not immediately obvious.
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