Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

To boldly go

Journal Article · · Nuclear Energy (Washington, D.C.)
OSTI ID:376857

A little power source that runs on a plutonium isotope is helping unlock the secrets of our solar system. Voyagers 1 and 2 have been transmitting data to Earth since 1977, thanks to their long-lived, plutonium-powered radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). The RTGs providing power to other missions are reviewed, including: (1) the Galileo mission to Jupiter, (2) the Ulysses mission to orbit the Sun`s polar regions, (3) the Huygens probe of Saturn`s largest moon, and (4) the Cassini probe of Saturn`s rings.

OSTI ID:
376857
Journal Information:
Nuclear Energy (Washington, D.C.), Journal Name: Nuclear Energy (Washington, D.C.) Journal Issue: 3; ISSN NUENE8
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Similar Records

Development and Use of the Galileo and Ulysses Power Sources
Technical Report · Sat Oct 08 20:00:00 EDT 1994 · OSTI ID:1033366

Photochemical oxidation of oxalate in Pu-238 process streams
Conference · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2002 · OSTI ID:976606

Pu-powered space probes face uncertain future
Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Nuclear News · OSTI ID:146812