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    New fuel for nuclear power systems could enable missions to Mars and beyond
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    New fuel for nuclear power systems could enable missions to Mars and beyond

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    2. thisischemistry on

      Not really that new:

      From the article in this post:

      > For more than 15 years, researchers at the University of Leicester have been leaders in the development of Americium-RPS and heater units.

      [European Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) and Radioisotope Heater Units (RHUs) for Space Science and Exploration](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-019-0623-9)

      > Radioisotope power systems utilising americium-241 as a source of heat have been under development in Europe as part of a European Space Agency funded programme since 2009.

      It’s something that was around even before that, although plutonium has gotten much more study and development over the years.

      [Interstellar Explorer](https://web.archive.org/web/20120911225625/http://www.niac.usra.edu/files/library/meetings/misc/trieste_may02_mtg/McNutt_Ralph.pdf) (from 2002):

      > RTG based upon multicouples with 4 General Purpose Heat
      Sources and direct voltage
      > – 1 Pu-238 RTG (at 55W after 9.5 years).
      > – 2 Am-241 RTGs (at 7.867W each or 15.733 W total)

    3. wasdlmb on

      I don’t think Am-241 actually counts as “new” in general. From what I understand it’s pretty much just a drop in replacement for Pu-239 with much lower specific power (0.11 W/g vs 0.57 W/g). What seems novel here is the use of a Stirling engine instead of a thermoelectric generator, which could potentially see massive efficiency increases at the expensive of weight and reliability. An Am-241+Stirling design still won’t match a Pu-238+TEG design, but with anxieties of Pu-238 being limited we need to at least try something, and it should be fuel-agnostic either way.