Rover headed to Mars with INL (nuclear) power system on board

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_584405

Rover headed to Mars with INL power system on board

by Nicole Stricker, INL Communications & Governmental Affairs

NASA's http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/index.html">Mars Science Laboratory mission, which is scheduled to launch this week, has the potential to be the most productive Mars surface mission in history. That's due in part to its nuclear heat and power source.

When the rover Curiosity heads to space as early as Friday, it will carry the most advanced payload of scientific gear ever used on Mars' surface. Those instruments will get their lifeblood from a radioisotope power system assembled and tested at Idaho National Laboratory. The http://www.inl.gov/marsrover/">Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator is the latest "space battery" that can reliably power a deep space mission for many years.

The device provides a continuous source of heat and power for the rover's instruments. NASA has used nuclear generators to safely and reliably power 26 missions over the past 50 years. New generators like the one destined for Mars are painstakingly assembled and extensively tested at INL before heading to space.

"This power system will enable Curiosity to complete its ambitious expedition in Mars' extreme temperatures and seasons," said Stephen Johnson, director of https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt/community/nuclear_energy/277/space_nuclear">INL's Space Nuclear Systems and Technology Division. "When the unit leaves here, we’ve verified every aspect of its performance and made sure it’s in good shape when it gets to Kennedy Space Center."

…

[TheWraith]

1. This is going to be pretty awesome.

The old Spirit and Opportunity rovers were only designed to work for 90 days; they made it for years, eventually only shutting down because their solar panels could no longer provide electricity.

Now they're sending one which is nuclear powered. Think about that for a minute. This thing could still be driving around up there ten years from now.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Opportunity is still going strong

In the end, Spirit was killed by a “Catch 22.”

It wasn’t that the solar power system had failed, mechanical failures meant that it couldn’t be positioned to survive the Martian Winter.

[Nihil]

10. True.

http://xkcd.com/695/

:cry:

I know it's not a high enough priority task.
I know that it's not trivial to do.
I still want them to fix Spirit ...

[CJvR]

2. Lets hope...

...they have harmonized SI & Imperial measurements this mission so they break in time.

[Kolesar]

11. Don't want this payload falling back to Earth!

Would definitely have to organize a search for the space probe.

[hunter]

4. I want a nuclear generator for my house.

I'll bet Dick Cheney has one. x(

[TheWraith]

12. You could always steal one from an old Russian lighthouse.

Radioisotope generators were used extensively by the Soviet Union to power lighthouses in god-awful places that no sane human being would want to go to for maintenance. After the fall of the Soviet Union a lot of them went missing, probably stolen by people desperate to keep their own lights on.

[wtmusic]

5. RTGs have been used on space missions for 50 years.

Not sure why they are making it sound like something new.

[cascadiance]

6. I was hoping this thread was about KKKarl Rove being sent there to end his life there....

... out of the way of normal Americans!

[Sanity Claws]

7. I thought it said Rove headed to Mars

We can wish, can't we?

[IDemo]

13. Uranus would be a more appropriate destination

[cascadiance]

14. How about a different one! I wouldn't appreciate the constipation involved there...

... that might be painful and difficult to resolve!

[madokie]

8. To me that is a perfect example of a good use for nuclear energy

Here on earth to boil water to make steam to power turbines to turn our generators to make our electrical power not so much

[txlibdem]

9. As a supplement, helping solar power where it cannot do the job

I think this is a great lesson for us humans right here on Earth.