KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - NASA plans on blasting its new Mars Rover towards the Red Planet on July 30th.
But before we hear ‘ignition,’ years of Rover work wrapped up at an Oak Ridge machining lab.
“The plutonium powerplant for Perseverance. That’s the name of the Mars Rover,” George Ulrich said.
We’re heading inside the lab that most people never get to see.
“Everything we do with these NASA missions is enabling,” Ulrich added. Enabling all the scientific instruments to power up.
“Without these power supplies, NASA would have to quit doing deep space missions,” Dr. Bob Wham said.
We’re not getting to Mars with an AA battery. NASA is using plutonium and Bob Wham runs the 238 lab.
“Basically it will work during the day, and then overnight the batteries will charge. And then it will be ready to go the next day,” Dr. Wham said of how Perseverance is slated to work on Martian soil.
In the last year, his team quadrupled production, meeting NASA’s demand.
“And we need to scale it up by another factor of four,” Dr. Wham said.
That plutonium ‘battery’ sits inside a thermal insulator. Which is surrounded by Nidia Gallego’s custom carbon fiber shell.
“We’re still looking at alternative fibers,” Dr. Gallego said.
After that, they’re working for a Saturn launch.
“It’ll land on Titan and then be a helicopter to get around,” George Ulrich said of the next big launch.
All three are proud of their space-age work. Gallego hopes to inspire her own daughters.
“Getting them excited. And knowing that their mom is doing something that is a small part of this larger thing,” Dr. Gallego said.
Maybe they’ll design the next rocket.
“You don’t want to reveal NASA’s next mission right here on WVLT,” Ben Cathey asked Wham.
“Sorry I can’t do that. I wish I could! I wish I knew what it was. But we basically want to keep them fueled.”
During the pandemic a lot of us have worked from home. But how does that work for the radioactive hot cell team?
“You can’t exactly leave plutonium to sit by itself right? Someone has to actually be there,” Ben Cathey asked.
“Exactly. Someone’s gotta be there to handle it all,” Dr. Wham said. “This is all, handling radioactive material. And we count on our staff to be there. So no you don’t just let this loose. And there’s no taking this home. There’s no taking a batch of plutonium home and work on it in the kitchen.”
Copyright 2020 WVLT. All rights reserved.
"up" - Google News
July 30, 2020 at 09:43AM
https://ift.tt/3goD4q0
Oak Ridge engineers power-up NASA's Mars Rover - WVLT
"up" - Google News
https://ift.tt/350tWlq
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Oak Ridge engineers power-up NASA's Mars Rover - WVLT"
Post a Comment