All articles tagged with #rtg
JPL engineers used a “big bang” heater switch on Voyager 2 to keep its electronics and fuel lines warm, freeing enough RTG power to extend the mission by about a year, with a similar upgrade planned for Voyager 1.
Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, sent its last faint signal in January 2003 from about 12 billion kilometres away as its power from plutonium-238 RTGs faded; the eleven-hour transmission highlighted a graceful end to a 30-year mission, later explained as heat radiation affecting the craft’s trajectory rather than new physics, and the probe remains a silent, drifting artifact with a gold plaque honoring human exploration.
NASA's Curiosity rover, celebrating 13 years on Mars, has received a software update that improves its efficiency by enabling multitasking and better power management, extending its operational lifespan despite the finite plutonium power source.
NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 space probes have been operating for over 45 years, thanks to the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) that provided 470 W at launch. Recently, NASA announced that Voyager 2 has a reserve power source that will postpone the shutdown of more science instruments for a few more years. The Voyager's Multi-Hundred Watt (MHW) RTGs are the predecessor to the RTGs that are still powering the New Horizons probe after 17 years and the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) for over 10 years, showing the value of RTGs in long-term exploration missions.