Zeno Power has signed an agreement with French nuclear fuel cycle manager Orano to acquire Americium-241, an isotope the U.S. startup plans to repurpose for powering long-duration and deep-space missions. The company said it will make a “multi-million-dollar” annual payment to Orano for the supply, which will be sourced from the firm’s recycling site in France.
Americium-241 offers an alternative to plutonium-238, which has traditionally powered nuclear batteries for space exploration but remains in short supply. The isotope’s characteristics make it well-suited for space applications, according to Harsh Desai, Zeno Power’s chief commercialization officer. “It has a higher power density, so it won’t require launching lots of mass to space. Astronauts would be able to work and live nearby power sources using it. It has a half-life of ~430 years, so it can last for decades,” Desai told Payload.
NASA has identified surviving the lunar night — a two-week period without sunlight and extreme cold — as a critical technology gap for future missions. Nuclear power is seen as one of the few viable solutions. By tapping Americium-241, which is created as a byproduct of nuclear reactors or through plutonium decay, Zeno Power aims to expand its role in supporting U.S. government, commercial and allied space missions.
“This will enable us to scale this up,” Desai said. “To get multiple kilograms of Americium-241, that allows us to do more than one mission a year. That’s really critical to ensure we meet the burgeoning demand for power in the space domain.”
