But it’s not all bad:

Jim Adams, deputy director of planetary science at NASA, said that there is enough of the fuel for NASA missions to around 2022. He says if NASA does not get more after that, “then we won’t go beyond Mars anymore. We won’t be exploring the solar system beyond Mars and the asteroid belt.”[7] After production has been restarted it is predicted that it would take at least five years to get enough for a single spacecraft mission.[6]

In February 2013, it was reported that a small amount of was successfully produced by Oak Ridge’s High Flux Isotope Reactor, this was the first time the United States had produced 238Pu since production ended in the late 1980s.[9] Jim Green, head of NASA’s planetary science division, stated in March 2013 that NASA expects to receive reports back from DOE later in 2013 on a complete schedule that would put plutonium-238 on track to be produced at about 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) per year.[9]