Oct 14, 2016
No extension cord is long enough to reach another planet, and there’s no spacecraft charging station along the way
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: nuclear energy, space travel
That’s why researchers are hard at work on ways to make spacecraft power systems more efficient, resilient and long-lasting.
“NASA needs reliable long-term power systems to advance exploration of the solar system,” said Jean-Pierre Fleurial, supervisor for the thermal energy conversion research and advancement group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. “This is particularly important for the outer planets, where the intensity of sunlight is only a few percent as strong as it is in Earth orbit.”