Radioisotope Power Systems

Resources

View iconic images made possible by RPS power. Watch video explanations of the power behind those images. Download fact sheets, reports, and more.

Images

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Radioisotope Power Systems

Images

Images of Radioistope Power Systems, including Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs), diagrams, Stirling converters, and other nuclear heat and power technologies.

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Five engineers look intently at the upside-down Perseverance Rover. They are examining the rover's Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.

Technicians in the payload processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida perform a fit check between NASA'S Mars 2020 Perseverance rover and its Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) on April 16-17, 2020. Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

NASA/JPL-Caltech/KSC/DOE

Powered by RPS: Great Shots from Around the Solar System

26 Images

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Earth is a tiny pixel of white in a dusty sunbeam in this image of the vast emptiness of deep space.

Magestic Saturn and its rings are barely illuminated view of the entire planet.

Giant Jupiter is half illuminated by the Sun and its moon Io is a crescent in the foreground. A small glowing volcanic plume is erupting from Io.

A sweeping landscape gives way to hills on the colorized horizon in this artistic Mars composite image.

The image from NASA's Voyager 2 shows the Great Dark Spot and its companion bright smudge; on the west limb the fast moving bright feature called Scooter and the little dark spot are visible.

This false-color photograph is a composite of 15 images of the Moon taken through three color filters NASA Galileo solid-state imaging system during the spacecraft passage through the Earth-Moon system on December 8, 1992.

A color-enhanced image shows cloud patterns moving around a hexagon -shaped storm om Satirm.

In the early morning hours of July 8, 2015, mission scientists received this new view of Pluto -- the most detailed yet returned by New Horizons. The image was taken on July 7, when the NASA spacecraft was just under 5 million miles 8 million kilometers

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Radioisotope Power Systems

Videos

Videos and animations that explain radioisotope power.

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Screenshot of Power to Explore contest video.

NASA

Featured Video

Space nuclear power to explore the deepest, dustiest, darkest, and most distant regions of our solar system and beyond.

NASA

Fact Sheets

NASA Facts: Next Generation Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators

Feb 20, 2024

pdf (1.27 MB)

NASA Facts: Multi-Mission Radioisotope
Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG)

Feb 20, 2024

pdf (969.27 KB)

NASA Facts: Mars 2020 Launch Nuclear Safety

Feb 20, 2024

pdf (972.06 KB)

NASA Facts: Radioisotope Power Systems:
Meeting Mission Needs

Feb 21, 2024

pdf (1,003.06 KB)

NASA Facts: What is Plutonium-238?

Feb 21, 2024

pdf (666.18 KB)

NASA Facts: Radioisotope Power and Heating for Mars Surface Exploration

Feb 21, 2024

pdf (328.80 KB)

NASA Facts: Mars Science Laboratory Launch Contingency Planning

Feb 21, 2024

pdf (665.24 KB)

NASA Facts: Mars Science Laboratory Launch Nuclear Safety

Feb 21, 2024

pdf (916.45 KB)

3D Viewer

Take a closer look at the MMRTG subsystem on NASA's Perseverance rover with our interactive 3D viewer.

NASA

Reports

The rover is upside down in this straight from the back view. The image is centered on a cylinder with fins, the spacecraft's Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.

Next-Generation RTG Study Final Report 2017

Feb 8, 2024

pdf (6.49 MB)

Nuclear Power Assessment Study - Final Report

Feb 8, 2024

pdf (4.47 MB)

NPAS Errata

Feb 8, 2024

pdf (224.75 KB)

featured report

Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032

Origins, Worlds, and Life: A Decadal Strategy for Planetary Science and Astrobiology 2023-2032 highlights key science questions, identifies priority missions, and presents a comprehensive research strategy that includes both planetary defense and human exploration.

Download from the National Academies