Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators

RTGs generate power from the nuclear decay of radioactive metals. Since the 1960s, they have been used in spacecraft to provide clean, reliable power.

Many have protested their use, but instead it should be saluted – without RTGs, the exploration of space would have been impossible. The Voyager probes, hurtling out towards the edge of the solar system, are still sending back useful and fascinating data 30 years after their launch. The Far Horizons mission to Pluto will provide gigabytes of information on that strange dwarfed planet. But without the effect of nuclear decay and the genius of RTG design, all these missions would simply be metallic asteroids, silently floating towards oblivion.

As a new surge in space exploration begins, the need for electrical power grows critical, and as we begin to move out into our own solar system, the immense power of nuclear energy must be harnessed. A Lunar colony may cope with solar power, but what generator will run a Martian city? When space-probes travel beyond the heliopause, deep into the black unknown of interstellar space, what will run their circuits and their sensors? What will a space-station orbiting Europa use for power?

RTGs make all these dreams possible.

Submitted by: Ed Simons