How The New Mars Rover’s Power Supply Works (This Sucker’s Nuclear!)

There ’s a reason Curiosity ’s fancy new Multi - Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator is n’t going to be installed until just day before its launch . It ’s radioactive , powered by a exceptional pattern of plutonium dioxide that wo n’t be hand over useless by the red planet ’s dust issue .

In this video , Ashwin Vasavada , the Deputy Project Scientist for NASA ’s Mars Science Laboratory , explicate how issues with Spirit and Opportunity ’s dust traverse solar board led to the larger and grievous Curiosity rover being outfitted with an MMRTG top executive source , which harnesses heat from the natural decay of atomic number 94 dioxide . The heating is then release into 110 W of uninterrupted electrical ability through a curing of thermocouple , hold launch the rover , and its 165 dog pound of scientific orchestration , warm and powered for up to two years . [ NASAviaCoudal ]

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