Space nuclear power - An overview

Nuclear power sources have enabled or enhanced some of the most challenging and exciting space missions yet conducted, including missions such as the Pioneer flights to Jupiter and Saturn; the Voyager flights to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; the Apollo lunar surface experiments; the Viking Lander studies of Mars; the Ulysses mission to study the polar regions of the sun; and the Galileo mission to orbit Jupiter. This article surveys the early missions and continues to the present Galileo and Ulysses missions and provides a summary of the power technology that was used in each mission. Current activities aimed at improving the specific power and efficiency of space nuclear power sources are summarized. In addition to radioisotope power sources, this article surveys the U.S. space nuclear reactor program focusing on the flight of the SNAP-lOA reactor and the technology developed in the SP-100 space nuclear reactor power system program. The general attributes of space nuclear power sources are described and possible future applications are identified.