Idaho National Laboratory began supporting NASA missions in 2005, when INL scientists built the space battery for the New Horizons mission to Pluto. The 9 ½ year trip to deep space is powered by INL’s radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG.
(NASA image)
The frigid temperatures almost 3 billion miles from the Earth would render useless anything without a strong, consistent heat source. The INL’s RTG provides constant electricity allowing the on-board instruments to reveal important information about Pluto and the origins of our solar system.
Scientists assembled the RTG at INL’s new Space and Security Power Systems Facility, or SSPSF, a 10,000 square-foot facility built in 2004. The plutonium for the RTG was provided by Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge and Los Alamos national laboratories. Approximately 24 pounds of Plutonium-238 bring the New Horizons instruments to life. NASA has used similar RTGs in 25 missions since the 1960s.
The new facility and capabilities have thrust INL into the forefront of nuclear space technology. Work on a second space science mission has already begun. The next RTG will be a Multi-Mission RTG, or MMRTG, and is slated for a Mars lander mission. Takeoff is expected in September 2009.
New Horizons
- Launch Video (MPG)
- Press Kit (PDF)
Timelines
- Discovery of the planets and the Pluto encounter
- New Horizons (PowerPoint version) — 731kB
- New Horizons (PDF version) — 4.5MB
- Pluto, Charon and the Kuiper Belt history
- Pluto (PowerPoint version) — 374kB
- Pluto (PDF version) — 3.6MB
- General inquiries:
- Nuclear Communications