The US has used Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) to provide reliable, uninterrupted thermal and electrical power for spacecraft since the 1960s. This chapter presents and discusses the performance data available from all US RTG‐powered space missions flown by the end of 2020. It presents RTG power that is normalized to the power produced at the beginning‐of‐mission. RTGs are now a very long‐lived power generation technology. SNAP‐3B was the first RTG to fly in space. It was a small, 2.7 W e supplementary power source for the Transit 4‐A and Transit 4‐B satellites. In 1965, National Aeronautics and Space Administration commissioned the SNAP‐27 RTG for use on the surface of the moon. This put development of the lunar SNAP‐27 in parallel with the deep space SNAP‐19.


    Zugriff

    Zugriff prüfen

    Verfügbarkeit in meiner Bibliothek prüfen

    Bestellung bei Subito €


    Exportieren, teilen und zitieren



    Titel :

    Lifetime Performance of Spaceborne RTGs


    Beteiligte:

    Erschienen in:

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    11.01.2023


    Format / Umfang :

    30 pages




    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch




    RTGs on Transit

    Dassoulas, John / McNutt, Ralph L. | American Institute of Physics | 2007


    Flight performance of Galileo and Ulysses RTGs

    Hemler, Richard J. / Kelly, Charles E. | American Institute of Physics | 1993


    Next Generation RTGs for NASA

    Woerner, David | AIAA | 2017


    Flight Performance of Galileo and Ulysses RTGs

    Hemler, R. J. / Kelly, C. E. / American Institute of Physics | British Library Conference Proceedings | 1993


    Next-Generation RTGs for NASA

    Woerner, David F. | NTRS | 2017