East Idaho News | How the INL is changing space with $100 million power generators that last decades @Eastidnews | Uploaded October 2024 | Updated October 2024, 6 hours ago.
#INL #eastidahonews #space
IDAHO FALLS — When Stephen Johnson, Ph.D., tells most people what he does for a living, they’re usually surprised – especially when they learn what’s happening in the desert west of Idaho Falls.
Johnson is the director of the Space Nuclear Power and Isotope Technologies Division at the Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex.
In other words, “I’m part of a group that provides small power systems for NASA applications,” Johnson explains. “I’d say most people that come in here have no idea that this work is done here.”
INL Space Nuclear Power and Isotope Technologies Division members work on RTGs inside this building. | Jordan Wood, EastIdahoNews.com
It all happens inside a highly secure building, where cell phones, smart watches, Wi-Fi, and anything that transmits a signal are strictly prohibited.
Johnson took EastIdahoNews.com on a rare tour inside the building where Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, or RTGs, are constructed. Each RTG costs around $100 million and takes years to complete.
“Typically, they go for deep space missions – missions that are orbiting Saturn, Jupiter, flying by Pluto, going into the Kuiper Belt, which is the asteroid belt around our solar system,” Johnson says. “They will go down to the surface of Mars and will go explore the various moons.”
Since the 1960s, RTGs produced at INL have supported over 24 missions to space, including Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17.
Before the power generators arrive in Idaho, they’re at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Laboratories, where the components and heat sources are produced.
“We’re the last step in a chain of events of the Department of Energy labs. We integrate pieces and parts from all the labs and from private industry in order to take heat sources made of Plutonium 238, harness that heat, and put it into a converter system that will supply power for NASA missions,” Johnson says.
The materials arrive at INL from Los Alamos in heavy-duty stainless steel containers that are welded shut. Inside are heat sources that are put into module assembly glove boxes which are used to make the RTGs.
This process takes about six weeks to complete. Once the generator is ready, it is moved into the inert atmospheric assembly chamber, where controllers use robotic arms to place radioisotope heat sources inside the RTGs.
“When we’re actually doing operations, the chamber is filled with about one foot of water. Water is a very effective neutron shield, so it protects the people,” Johnson explains.
The last generator finished at INL was in 2019 for the 2020 Mars Perseverance Rover. They take around four months to build and undergo a series of tests to make sure they’ll work.
Inside one room, loud equipment simulates vibration and shock similar to what occurs on a spacecraft launch pad.
“We have an armature that will move up and down at a fairly high frequency – about 20-2,000 hertz is our testing profile with up to 30,000 pounds of force,” says Craig Dees, the Radioisotope Power Supply Group lead engineer. “We’ll test the Z axis, and the shaker head will move up and down. As we reorient the shaker to attach to the slip table, we’ll do the X and Y shake on a slip table.”
Johnson describes the room as essentially “one big woofer.” The walls are covered with sound-deadening foam, and workers wear hearing protection.
“This is the one piece of equipment that could physically damage the generator if we twist the knob a little bit too hard,” Johnson says.
After vibration testing, scientists measure the generator’s magnetic field to ensure it won’t interfere with the delicate instruments on the spacecraft.
A magnetic field in space is an invisible area surrounding objects like planets and stars where moving charged particles create a force that can influence the movement of other charged particles.
“If you’re on a rover, you’re going to have instrumentation nearby. You’re pretty interested in making certain the magnetic fields don’t screw up your instruments, or else you have a really fast mission to Mars and zero data,” Johnson says.
Read the complete story here: eastidahonews.com/2024/10/how-the-inl-is-changing-space-with-100-million-power-generators-that-last-decades
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#INL #eastidahonews #space
IDAHO FALLS — When Stephen Johnson, Ph.D., tells most people what he does for a living, they’re usually surprised – especially when they learn what’s happening in the desert west of Idaho Falls.
Johnson is the director of the Space Nuclear Power and Isotope Technologies Division at the Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex.
In other words, “I’m part of a group that provides small power systems for NASA applications,” Johnson explains. “I’d say most people that come in here have no idea that this work is done here.”
INL Space Nuclear Power and Isotope Technologies Division members work on RTGs inside this building. | Jordan Wood, EastIdahoNews.com
It all happens inside a highly secure building, where cell phones, smart watches, Wi-Fi, and anything that transmits a signal are strictly prohibited.
Johnson took EastIdahoNews.com on a rare tour inside the building where Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, or RTGs, are constructed. Each RTG costs around $100 million and takes years to complete.
“Typically, they go for deep space missions – missions that are orbiting Saturn, Jupiter, flying by Pluto, going into the Kuiper Belt, which is the asteroid belt around our solar system,” Johnson says. “They will go down to the surface of Mars and will go explore the various moons.”
Since the 1960s, RTGs produced at INL have supported over 24 missions to space, including Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17.
Before the power generators arrive in Idaho, they’re at Oak Ridge and Los Alamos National Laboratories, where the components and heat sources are produced.
“We’re the last step in a chain of events of the Department of Energy labs. We integrate pieces and parts from all the labs and from private industry in order to take heat sources made of Plutonium 238, harness that heat, and put it into a converter system that will supply power for NASA missions,” Johnson says.
The materials arrive at INL from Los Alamos in heavy-duty stainless steel containers that are welded shut. Inside are heat sources that are put into module assembly glove boxes which are used to make the RTGs.
This process takes about six weeks to complete. Once the generator is ready, it is moved into the inert atmospheric assembly chamber, where controllers use robotic arms to place radioisotope heat sources inside the RTGs.
“When we’re actually doing operations, the chamber is filled with about one foot of water. Water is a very effective neutron shield, so it protects the people,” Johnson explains.
The last generator finished at INL was in 2019 for the 2020 Mars Perseverance Rover. They take around four months to build and undergo a series of tests to make sure they’ll work.
Inside one room, loud equipment simulates vibration and shock similar to what occurs on a spacecraft launch pad.
“We have an armature that will move up and down at a fairly high frequency – about 20-2,000 hertz is our testing profile with up to 30,000 pounds of force,” says Craig Dees, the Radioisotope Power Supply Group lead engineer. “We’ll test the Z axis, and the shaker head will move up and down. As we reorient the shaker to attach to the slip table, we’ll do the X and Y shake on a slip table.”
Johnson describes the room as essentially “one big woofer.” The walls are covered with sound-deadening foam, and workers wear hearing protection.
“This is the one piece of equipment that could physically damage the generator if we twist the knob a little bit too hard,” Johnson says.
After vibration testing, scientists measure the generator’s magnetic field to ensure it won’t interfere with the delicate instruments on the spacecraft.
A magnetic field in space is an invisible area surrounding objects like planets and stars where moving charged particles create a force that can influence the movement of other charged particles.
“If you’re on a rover, you’re going to have instrumentation nearby. You’re pretty interested in making certain the magnetic fields don’t screw up your instruments, or else you have a really fast mission to Mars and zero data,” Johnson says.
Read the complete story here: eastidahonews.com/2024/10/how-the-inl-is-changing-space-with-100-million-power-generators-that-last-decades
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