Office of Nuclear energy, Science & Technology
U.S. Department of Energy

Media contact(s):
Michael Waldron, 202/586-4940

January 13, 2006

DOE Technology Supports Upcoming NASA Mission to Pluto

WASHINGTON, DC -- When the New Horizons spacecraft is launched on Tuesday,
January 17, 2006, on a mission to Pluto and its moon Charon, it will be
powered by deep space battery technology developed by the Department of
Energy's Idaho, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos national laboratories. This
technology will play a key role in the first NASA mission to the last
planet in our solar system.

"This technology is a tremendous example of how DOE's national
laboratories are helping to significantly expand scientific research and
discovery," said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. "Because of our
outstanding scientists and engineers at our national labs, the sky truly
is the limit."

Each laboratory played an integral role in the development, assembly and
testing of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator or "RTG" -- a power
system or "space battery" that provides an uninterrupted and reliable
source of heat and electricity in remote and harsh environments such as
deep space. The RTG will provide power and heat to the New Horizons
spacecraft and on-board scientific equipment through the radioactive decay
of nuclear material. The heat generated by this nuclear material is
converted into electricity by solid-state thermoelectrics. RTGs, which
have been used by NASA for nearly forty years, enable spacecraft to
operate at significant distances from the Sun or in other areas where
remote solar power systems would not be feasible.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed and fabricated the material used
to encapsulate the plutonium; Los Alamos National Laboratory purified,
pelletized into a ceramic form and encapsulated the plutonium; and Idaho
National Laboratory assembled and tested the RTG and safely delivered the
flight-ready RTG to the Kennedy Space Center.

The launch window for New Horizons opens on January 17, according to the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. New Horizons will cross the
entire span of the solar system -- in record time -- and conduct flyby
studies of Pluto and its moon in 2015. For more details on the New
Horizons mission, visit the NASA web site at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ne...ain/index.html

Additional information on the department's role in developing nuclear
energy technologies for space exploration may be found at the Office of
Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology's web site,
http://www.nuclear.gov