An atomic 'space battery' is being developed in the UK to power orbital craft and exploration missions, with a new collaboration launched today by the UK Space Agency and the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).
The plan is to make the world’s first space battery powered by Americium-241, a manmade radioactive metal or radioisotope produced from plutonium and with similar properties.
Researchers at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria found that Am-241, which is produced by the radioactive decay of used fuel from nuclear reactors, could be used as an alternative for the batteries known as radioisotope power systems (RPSs).
Working from a new specialist lab at the Sellafield site, the NNL is aiming to make use of what is said to be the largest resource of Americium-241 in the world to deliver fuel for RPSs, as well as exploiting otherwise unused waste plutonium byproducts without generating additional waste.
These space batteries, which release heat as their radioactivity decays to prevent spacecraft from freezing or to be converted into electricity, can go on working for decades without any maintenance, and have been used by all Apollo missions and every Mars rover.
Previous RPSs have all been powered by Plutonium-238, which is only made in the US and Russia, so these plans have been accelerated following the discovery that Americium-241 could be used as an alternative.
Professor Tim Tinsley, who is directing the work at the NNL, said as this plutonium in very limited supply, the laboratory's identification of significant reserves of Americium-241 has "game-changing potential for the UK’s space ambitions".
He said the lab is using "decades of experience in separating and purifying used nuclear material in order to unlock great public benefits, and it goes to the heart of our purpose of nuclear science to benefit society".
UK Space Agency chief Dr Paul Bate said: "This innovative method to create Americium to power space missions will allow us not only to sustain exploration of the Moon and Mars for longer periods of time, but to venture further into space than ever before.
"Supporting the National Nuclear Laboratory’s expansion will make the UK the only country in the world capable of producing this viable alternative to Plutonium, reducing the global space community’s reliance on limited supplies, which are increasingly difficult and costly to obtain."