Heat in the Dark: Missions in the Fronter Using Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS)
Day: Thursday 8 October
Time: 14:50 - 15:35
Location: D3 - NEST Congress and Exhibition Centre
Some of the most strategic and scientifically compelling environments in the solar system are also the most hostile to conventional spacecraft power systems. These locations include areas of long duration lunar night, permanently shadowed regions of the lunar poles, dust-shrouded surface of Mars, and the radiation-intense moons of the outer planets. This panel convenes an international roster of organizations to discuss how their systems can utilize and take advantage of RPS, unlocking science and exploration throughout the solar systems. Panelists will articulate potential future missions that could be imagined, including long-duration seismic monitoring across lunar night cycles, in-situ volatile characterization at polar cold traps, enabling a lunar base, multi-year surface operations on Mars, and deep space missions to the ice giants and beyond. The session will examine the new generation of RPS technology, including Radioisotope Heater Units (RHUs) and Stirling Power conversion. Panelists will also discuss how the science and exploration communities can more effectively use new commercial RPS solutions. The frontier does not yield its secrets easily, and it does not yield them in daylight alone. This session makes the case that radioisotope power is not a niche technology — it is part of the enabling infrastructure in the solar system.
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