![]() ![]() NASA’s upcoming Dragonfly mission will send a robotic rotorcraft to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, powered by a radioisotope power system that NASA and the DOE call a multimission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG). The first NASA mission to use new Pu-238 produced by the DOE was NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed on Mars in 2021 and is still exploring the planet today. But over a decade ago, NASA and the DOE agreed to reestablish a domestic supply chain of the isotope to power future space missions. With the closure of the K-reactor at Savannah River Site in the late 1980s, the United States lost its ability to produce Pu-238 for space exploration, according to the DOE. (The twin Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, are still getting power from their RTGs today.) The why: RTGs work by converting heat from the radioactive decay of Pu-238 into electricity, and they have powered deep space missions for decades. “Together, we are working to ensure that a viable end-to-end capability to produce radioisotope power systems for deep space use exists within the U.S. “Bringing this packaging capability online at Oak Ridge National Laboratory demonstrates the Department’s commitment to our partnership with NASA,” said Kathryn Huff, assistant secretary for nuclear energy. NASA needs plutonium oxide pellets to fuel radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) for deep space missions, and the space agency worked with the DOE to sponsor the installation of equipment to expand ORNL’s packaging capability. The successful June packaging and delivery represented a milestone, according to the DOE, because it was an order of magnitude greater than previous shipments. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |