Tag: Department of Energy
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Plutonium power source installed on NASA’s next Mars rover
Artist’s concept of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Credit: NASA The nuclear power generator for NASA’s Perseverance rover has been installed on the spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral, and mission managers gave a green light Wednesday to continue preparations for the rover’s July 30 launch toward Mars. The rover’s Multi-Mission Radioisotope…
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Plutonium power source installed on NASA’s next Mars rover
Artist’s concept of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Credit: NASA The nuclear power generator for NASA’s Perseverance rover has been installed on the spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral, and mission managers gave a green light Wednesday to continue preparations for the rover’s July 30 launch toward Mars. The rover’s Multi-Mission Radioisotope…
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U.S. lab generates first space-grade plutonium sample since 1980s
File photo of a plutonium-238 pellet. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory For the first time in nearly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced a sample of plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope used to power deep space missions, good news for future NASA space probes heading to destinations starved of sunlight. The 50-gram (0.1-pound)…
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U.S. lab generates first space-grade plutonium sample since 1980s
File photo of a plutonium-238 pellet. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory For the first time in nearly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced a sample of plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope used to power deep space missions, good news for future NASA space probes heading to destinations starved of sunlight. The 50-gram (0.1-pound)…