Missions

NASA has selected 45 semi-finalist of the Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes.

NASA’s second Power to Explore Challenge inspires learning about how radioisotope power systems help us explore the extremes of our solar system. Credit: NASA/Gayle Dibiasio (ATS)

Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) have provided the power to explore some of the deepest, darkest, and most distant destinations in the solar system and beyond. Voyager 1 is NASA’s furthest traveled spacecraft, and its science mission has been enabled by RPS for 45 years.

Celebrating 45 years of Voyager I and II in space

A team of scientists and engineers sponsored by NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program won the American Nuclear Society’s 2022 Best Radioisotope Power Paper award. The society made the announcement following the Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS) conference, held May 8-12 in Cleveland.

NASA used augmented reality to give STEM students a real-world mission planning experience.