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Radioisotope Power Systems
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GPHS Module (Display model)
A display model of the GPHS module.
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NASA/DOE
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This panorama, taken on Feb. 20, 2021, by the Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, was stitched together from six individual images after they were sent back to Ea...
Perseverance Navcams 360-Degree Panorama
NASA's newest arrival on Mars, Perseverance will be collecting rock samples that a future mission will return to Earth.
RPS 60th: Mars Perseverance Rover Shareable
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has delivered a glorious view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn's shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings ...
A Splendor Seldom Seen
At equinox, the shadows of the planet's expansive rings are compressed into a single, narrow band cast onto the planet as seen in this mosaic.
Changing Seasons on Saturn
Video taken by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover shows some of the terrain the rover had to negotiate during its drive to the delta at Jezero Crater in April 2022.
AutoNav Drives Perseverance Forward
An improved, color enhanced version of the 360-degree Gallery Pan taken by Mars Pathfinder in 1997.
Mars Pathfinder Panorama
Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, from the NASA Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida, propelled into space on a Titan/Centaur rocket.
Voyager 2 Launch
Non-NASA RPS Missions Fleet Chart
Non-NASA RPS Missions Fleet Chart
Encircled in purple stratospheric haze, Titan appears as a softly glowing sphere in this colorized image taken one day after Cassini's first flyby of the moon on July 2, 2004.
Titan's Haze
DRPS illustration of the Flexure Isotope Stirling Convertor system from American Superconductor.
Flexure Isotope Stirling Convertor System (illustration)
Astronaut Alan Bean prepares the RTG to be fueled.
Fueling the RTG on the Moon (image 2)
This illustration lists RHU-heated and RTG-powered spacecraft and the many moons and planets they have visited.
60th Anniversary: NASA's RHU-Heated and RTG-Powered Spacecraft
An American Superconductor free-piston Stirling Convertor.
American Superconductor Free-Piston Stirling Convertor
There are no gas stations or mechanics in deep space. So, if you want the power to perform science in the deep, dark frontiers of our solar system, you must have an engine that is reliable for the...
Testing Maintenance-Free Engines That Power Science in Deep Space
NASA engineer collaborating with Shasta High School students during the final presentations of the student’s mission concepts at the Graphics and Visualization Lab at NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
NASA Uses Technology to Give Students an Out-of-this-World Experience
The fuel insertion on F2, the MMRTG that would power NASA's Curiosity Rover.
Fuel Insertion on F2 (Curiosity Rover's MMRTG)
A color image of Arrakoth taken by the New Horizons spacecraft.
Enhanced-Color Composite Image of Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth (2014 MU69)
Astronaut Alan Bean prepares the RTG to be fueled.
Fueling the RTG on the Moon (image 1)
Scientist for a Day is an essay contest that challenges students in grades 5-12 to think like scientists.
Scientist for a Day Flyer - 2020-21
This image is the first panoramic view of the Martian surface, taken by the Viking 1 lander.
First Mars Panorama
Huygens probe following its successful descent to Saturn's smog-enshrouded moon, Titan.
First Color View of Titan's Surface
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, including its Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, is shown on sol 108 of its mission in this image.
NASA's Perseverance Near the Rim of Adziilii Crater
Dragonfly is a NASA rotorcraft lander mission that will explore the chemistry and habitability of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.
RPS 60th: Dragonfly Mission to Titan Shareable
Humanity's most sophisticated rover launched at 7:50 a.m. EDT on July 30th on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
Mars Perseverance Launches
This color image, acquired by the Galileo spacecraft in 1997 on its ninth orbit around Jupiter, shows two volcanic plumes erupting on Io.
Active Volcanic Plumes on Io
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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.
NASA Celebrates 45 Years of Voyager 1, Enabled by Radioisotope Power
Celebrating 45 years of Voyager I and II in space
Voyager, NASA's Longest-Lived Mission, Logs 45 Years 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.
Silicon-Germanium Unicouple Paper Wins Best Radioisotope Power Paper Award
NASA used augmented reality to give STEM students a real-world mission planning experience.
NASA Uses Technology to Give Students an Out-of-this-World Experience
10 Years Since Landing, NASA's RPS-Powered Curiosity Mars Rover Still Has Drive
10 Years Since Landing, NASA's RPS-Powered Curiosity Mars Rover Still Has Drive
While the spacecraft continues to return science data and otherwise operate as normal, the mission team is searching for the source of a system data issue.
Engineers Investigating NASA's Voyager 1 Telemetry Data
