Fueling Space Missions with Plutonium-238

DOE Ships the Element to NASA for Research

A recent shipment of heat source plutonium-238 from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory to its Los Alamos National Laboratory is a critical step toward fueling planned NASA missions with radioisotope power systems.

“NASA’s Radioisotope Power Systems Program works in partnership with the Department of Energy to enable mis…