Power to Explore. Ulysses studied the Sun. Galileo and Cassini studied Venus. Nimbus 3, Voyager 1, Galileo, and Cassini studied Earth from space. Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 had surface experiments on the Moon, powered by radioisotope power. Viking 1, Viking 2, Curiosity, and Perseverance are on the surface of Mars. Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Ulysses, Galileo, Cassini, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and New Horizons studied Jupiter. Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and Cassini studied Saturn. Voyager 1 and Cassini studied Saturn's moon Titan, and Dragonfly is planned to study Titan in the future. Voyager 2 studied Uranus and Neptune. New Horizons studied Pluto.

For more than six decades, radioisotope power systems (RPS) have played a critical role in the exploration of space, enabling missions of scientific discovery to destinations across the solar system. RPS-powered spacecraft have explored every planet in our solar system from Venus outward— including the weather systems of Earth—and the polar regions of the Sun, as well as Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. Several of these hardy robotic emissaries continue to probe the most distant fringes of our solar system, with Voyager 1 and 2 both having broken through to reach the eerie, empty vacuum of true interstellar space.

Credit

NASA

ENLARGE

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