Mission of Daring: The General-Purpose Heat Source Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

The general-purpose heat source radioisotope thermoelectric generator (GPHS-RTG), which was most recently flown on the New Horizons mission to Pluto, was originally conceived in 1979 and executed in a crash program to replace another RTG for the planned International Solar Polar Mission (ISPM). ISPM would later morph into the Ulysses mission to explore the polar regions of the Sun. When the benefits of the GPHS-RTG technology became apparent, the Galileo program also adopted the GPHS-RTG as the power source for orbital exploration of Jupiter. The GPHS-RTG then became the power source of choice for the Cassini mission to Saturn. The GPHS-RTG was designed such that it could produce 300 We at fueling with a mass of 55.9 kg, making the GPHS-RTG the most powerful RTG with the highest specific power ever flown.

[1]  C. E. Kelly,et al.  Cassini RTG acceptance test results and RTG performance on Galileo and Ulysses , 1997, IECEC-97 Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference (Cat. No.97CH6203).

[2]  Gary Bannett,et al.  Status report on performance of radioisotope thermoelectric generators using silicon germanium thermoelectric elements , 1994 .

[3]  Gary Lee Bennett,et al.  Evaluating aeroshell materials for the MJS/multi-hundred watt heat source. [Reentry survival from an aborted launch] , 1976 .

[4]  C. Kelly.  MHW RTG performance during LES 8/9 and Voyager missions , 1987 .

[5]  G. R. Ambrose,et al.  Testing of the GPHS electrically heated thermoelectric converter , 1982 .

[6]  Robert D. Cockfield,et al.  GPHS-RTG performance on the Galileo mission , 1991 .

[7]  Stephen G. Johnson,et al.  Assembly and Testing of a Radioisotope Power System for the New Horizons Spacecraft , 2006 .

[8]  A Schock,et al.  Design evolution and verification of the general-purpose heat source , 1980 .

[9]  Robert Cockfield.  Preparation of RTG F8 for the Pluto New Horizons Mission , 2006 .

[10]  V. Raag.  The time and temperature behavior of the thermoelectric properties of 78 a/o Si-22 a/o Ge alloy , 1976 .

[11]  Gary L. Bennett,et al.  Update to the safety program for the general-purpose heat source radioisotope thermoelectric generators for the Galileo and Ulysses missions , 1992 .

[12]  Charles D. Griffin.  Vibration Testing of the Pluto/New Horizons Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator , 2006 .

[13]  C. E. Kelly,et al.  Performance models for the MHW converter , 1973 .

[14]  R. D. Cockfield.  Engineering development testing of the GPHS-RTG converter. [General Purpose Heat Source-Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator] , 1981 .

[15]  Geffrey Ottman,et al.  The Pluto-New Horizons RTG and Power System Early Mission Performance , 2006 .

[16]  A. B. Chmielewski,et al.  Computer modeling of thermoelectric generator performance , 1982 .

[17]  Alfred Schock,et al.  Design, Analysis, and Optimization of RTG for Solar Polar Mission , 1979 .

[18]  Gary L. Bennett,et al.  On the development of the power sources for the Ulysses and Galileo missions , 1989 .

[19]  G.L. Bennett,et al.  Power performance of US space radioisotope thermoelectric generators , 1996, Fifteenth International Conference on Thermoelectrics. Proceedings ICT '96.

[20]  Alfred Schock.  Closed-form solution for the effect of fuel decay and thermoelectric degradation on output of SiGe RTGs , 1991 .

[21]  E. C. Snow,et al.  General-purpose heat source development. Phase I: design requirements , 1978 .

[22]  G. Stapfer,et al.  The long-term performance degradation of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator using silicon germanium , 1976 .

[23]  Richard J. Hemler,et al.  Flight performance of Galileo and Ulysses RTGs , 2008 .

[24]  Alfred Schock,et al.  Development and Use of the Galileo and Ulysses Power Sources , 1994 .

[25]  Robert D. Cockfield,et al.  Power and Propulsion for the Cassini Mission , 2005 .