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Mars rover mission will use pioneering nuclear power source
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01487-6NEWS
21 May 2024
Mars rover mission will use pioneering nuclear power source
The radioactive unit will help to deliver Europe’s first Mars rover to the planet’s surface.
By Elizabeth Gibney
Europe’s upcoming Mars mission will use a pioneering nuclear-powered device that harnesses the radioactive decay of americium to keep its components warm — a first for spacecraft.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced the plans on 16 May, alongside details of an agreement with NASA that crystallized the US agency’s contribution to the long-delayed mission, which will deliver Europe’s first Mars rover, called Rosalind Franklin. ESA was originally working with Russian space agency Roscosmos on the mission, but cancelled the partnership in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Devices that harness the heat produced by the decay of radioactive elements, known as radioisotope heater units (RHUs), allow spacecraft to operate without relying on electricity generated by solar panels to warm them. ESA has historically relied on US or Russian partners to provide RHUs that use plutonium-238 for missions, but since 2009 has been working on its own programme to create radioisotope heaters, as well as batteries that provide electricity.
The European RHUs will heat components in the mission’s landing platform, which deploys the rover onto the Martian surface. The lander powers the rover before it exits the platform and opens its solar panels. So extending the lander’s life provides back up in case there are issues in deploying the rover, says Orson Sutherland, ESA’s group leader for Mars Exploration, based at the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
[...]
21 May 2024
Mars rover mission will use pioneering nuclear power source
The radioactive unit will help to deliver Europe’s first Mars rover to the planet’s surface.
By Elizabeth Gibney
Europe’s upcoming Mars mission will use a pioneering nuclear-powered device that harnesses the radioactive decay of americium to keep its components warm — a first for spacecraft.
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced the plans on 16 May, alongside details of an agreement with NASA that crystallized the US agency’s contribution to the long-delayed mission, which will deliver Europe’s first Mars rover, called Rosalind Franklin. ESA was originally working with Russian space agency Roscosmos on the mission, but cancelled the partnership in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Devices that harness the heat produced by the decay of radioactive elements, known as radioisotope heater units (RHUs), allow spacecraft to operate without relying on electricity generated by solar panels to warm them. ESA has historically relied on US or Russian partners to provide RHUs that use plutonium-238 for missions, but since 2009 has been working on its own programme to create radioisotope heaters, as well as batteries that provide electricity.
The European RHUs will heat components in the mission’s landing platform, which deploys the rover onto the Martian surface. The lander powers the rover before it exits the platform and opens its solar panels. So extending the lander’s life provides back up in case there are issues in deploying the rover, says Orson Sutherland, ESA’s group leader for Mars Exploration, based at the European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
[...]