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John Ryden
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Reliable Nuclear Power System runs continuously for 30 years
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Voyager Spacecraft
30 years of continuous operation for a nuclear power system with no maintenance or service calls. That’s pretty reliable.
There are actually two nuclear power systems that have been operating for over 30 years, going on 31 years this summer. They are the power systems on the two Voyager spacecraft (Voyager 1 and Voyager 2) that NASA launched in the summer of 1977. These are the spacecraft that provided the first close-up pictures of the outer planets of our solar system. The power systems on the spacecraft are radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
These RTGs work by converting the heat produced form decaying Plutonium-238. The power system on Voyager originally produced 470 watts of power, but the power declined to 335 watts in 1997, about 19.5 years after launch. As of July 2007, Voyager 1 was 9.6 billion miles from earth and Voyager 2 was 7.7 billion miles from earth. This is so distant that both spacecraft have crossed the edge of the solar system. Scientists expect the spacecraft to reach interstellar space in 5 to 7 years where they hope to collect more data. It is expected that the power systems will continue to provide power to operate some of the instruments on the spacecraft at least until 2020.
Montage of Saturnian system: Dione front. Tethys. Mimas right. Enceladus. Rhea left. Titan distant top.
This is an example of how nuclear energy can be beneficial to our society. There should be more ways that we can use nuclear power here on earth as an alternative to fossil fuels and help control global warming.
Topics: nuclear , Voyager
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