Tag: Department of Energy
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Photos: Atlas 5 rolled out to launch pad with NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket emerged from its vertical hangar Tuesday for the 1,800-foot journey to pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, moving into position for liftoff Thursday with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. Riding a mobile launch platform, the 197-foot-tall (60-meter) Atlas 5 rocket — tail number AV-088 — emerged…
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Good weather predicted for NASA’s Mars rover launch Thursday
The Atlas 5 rocket with NASA’s Perseverance rover on-board stands inside ULA’s Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance In the first official weather outlook the planned launch this week of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, meteorologists predict an 80 percent chance of favorable conditions to allow liftoff of…
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Plutonium power source installed on NASA’s next Mars rover
Artist’s concept of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Credit: NASA The nuclear power generator for NASA’s Perseverance rover has been installed on the spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral, and mission managers gave a green light Wednesday to continue preparations for the rover’s July 30 launch toward Mars. The rover’s Multi-Mission Radioisotope…
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Plutonium power source installed on NASA’s next Mars rover
Artist’s concept of the Perseverance rover on Mars. Credit: NASA The nuclear power generator for NASA’s Perseverance rover has been installed on the spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral, and mission managers gave a green light Wednesday to continue preparations for the rover’s July 30 launch toward Mars. The rover’s Multi-Mission Radioisotope…
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U.S. lab generates first space-grade plutonium sample since 1980s
File photo of a plutonium-238 pellet. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory For the first time in nearly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced a sample of plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope used to power deep space missions, good news for future NASA space probes heading to destinations starved of sunlight. The 50-gram (0.1-pound)…
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U.S. lab generates first space-grade plutonium sample since 1980s
File photo of a plutonium-238 pellet. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory For the first time in nearly 30 years, the U.S. Department of Energy has produced a sample of plutonium-238, the radioactive isotope used to power deep space missions, good news for future NASA space probes heading to destinations starved of sunlight. The 50-gram (0.1-pound)…