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A common RTG application is spacecraft power supply. Several generations of RTG design have been used for probes that traveled far from the Sun, rendering solar panels impractical. As such, they have been used for Pioneer 10 and 11; Voyager 1 and 2; Galileo; Ulysses; Cassini; New Horizons; and are planned for the Dragonfly mission to Titan.
The Multihundred-watt radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MHW RTG) is a type of US radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) developed for the Voyager spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. [1] The Voyager generators continue to function more than 45 years into the mission. [2] Radioisotope thermoelectric generators for the Voyager program.
Diagram of a MMRTG. The multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) is a type of radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) developed for NASA space missions [1] such as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Energy's Office of Space and Defense Power Systems within the Office of Nuclear Energy.
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. An enduring mystique surrounds the Voyager 1 and 2 ...
NASA turned off a suite of instruments on Voyager 2 and its twin Voyager 1 after they explored the gas giant planets in the 1980s. Both are currently in interstellar space, or the space between stars. The plasma instrument on Voyager 1 stopped working long ago and was finally shut down in 2007.
Voyager 1 ' s extended mission is expected to continue to return scientific data until at least 2025, with a maximum lifespan of until 2030. [13] Its radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) may supply enough electric power to return engineering data until 2036.
In 2012, Voyager 1 ventured beyond the solar system, becoming the first human-made object to enter interstellar space, or the space between stars. Voyager 2 followed suit in 2018. Voyager 2 ...
Despite the aging probe’s emptying power stores, NASA expects that Voyager 2 will keep operating with at least one science instrument into the 2030s. ... year-old spacecraft drains its supply of ...