Production of 238PuO2 heat sources for the Cassini mission

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Thermoelectric, Electrogasdynamic And Other Direct Energy Conversion

Scientific paper

NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn, scheduled to launch in October, 1997, is perhaps the most ambitious interplanetary explorer ever constructed. Electric power for the spacecraft's science instruments and on-board computers will be provided by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) powered by 216 238PuO2-fueled General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) capsules. In addition, critical equipment and instruments on the spacecraft and Huygens probe will be warmed by 128 Light-Weight Radioisotope Heater Units (LWRHUs). Fabrication and assembly of the GPHS capsules and LWRHU heat sources was performed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) between January 1994 and September 1996. During this production campaign, LANL pressed and sintered 315 GPHS fuel pellets and 181 LWRHU pellets. By October 1996, NMT-9 had delivered a total of 235 GPHS capsules to EG&G Mound Applied Technologies (EG&G MAT) in Miamisburg, Ohio. EG&G MAT conditioned the capsules for use, loaded the capsules into the Cassini RTGs, tested the RTGs, and coordinated transportation to Kennedy Space Center (KSC). LANL also fabricated and assembled a total of 180 LWRHUs. The LWRHUs required for the Cassini spacecraft were shipped to KSC in mid-1997.

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