Title: Plutonium-238 to help power Perseverance on Mars
Headings: Plutonium-238 to help power Perseverance on Mars
Plutonium-238 to help power Perseverance on Mars
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Content: Plutonium-238, a unique iridium alloy, and carbon-bonded carbon fiber are all key ingredients for deep space exploration. NASA uses these materials in the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG. An MMRTG is like a nuclear-powered battery pack that can sustain far-reaching space missions for decades. NASA's Perseverance mission to Mars is the latest to feature one of these generators outfitted with ORNL tech. Credit: Jenny Woodbery/ORNLAnimations courtesy of NASA, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. HFIR can irradiate up to 6,800 grams of neptunium per year in batches that stay in the reactor for two to three months. INL's Advanced Test Reactor is also irradiating small quantities of neptunium on a limited basis and is slated for a makeover next year that will increase its capability to produce Pu-238 as well. The program has installed automated systems to press and measure the Np-237 target pellets. Wham said automating the entire process has allowed the lab to increase the production of pellets significantly, helping to more than triple the output of Pu-238.