Launchpad: History, Benefits, and Safety of Radioisotope Power Systems
With safety designed from inside out and outside in, see how NASA has used Radioisotope Power Systems, or RPS, for more than 20 missions over the last 50 years. Discover the advantages of an RPS that allow spacecraft like Voyager to still do important scientific maneuvers after being in the extreme environment of space for 30 years! Find out where an RPS could take us in the future.
Background Information
Grades 6 through 8
Grades 9 through 12
- NASA Power for the Mars Science Laboratory
- NASA Radioisotope Power Systems
- NASA JPL The Periodic Table: Atoms, Elements, and Isotopes
- NASA JPL Voyager: The Interstellar Mission
- NASA JPL What are isotopes and why should we care?
- Nuclear Energy Institute Space Exploration: Why Nuclear Energy?
Activities
Grades 9 through 12
- NASA JPL Eyes on the Solar System
- NASA JPL Cosmic Chemistry: Understanding Elements