But these plutonium units are a respected power source for spacecraft nasa s curiosity rover.
Curiosity rover solar panels.
Of course the insight lander currently operating on the red planet bears solar panels.
Mars exploration rovers spirit and opportunity exploring the planet mars facts information videos and pictures.
Photo courtesy of nasa.
The 2 main drawbacks of solar panels is that they don t work during the night and they don t work during the martian winter.
On august 6 2012 the most recent rover landed on mars.
The electrical output from the mmrtg charges two rechargeable lithium ion batteries.
They believe the dust covered the rover s solar power.
One consequence is that the mars exploration rovers couldn t work for more that half of the time.
The curiosity rover is bigger needs more power.
The rover requires power to operate.
Named curiosity it was the largest rover to be placed on the surface of mars.
Curiosity carries a radioisotope power system that generates electricity from the heat of plutonium s radioactive decay.
The power source generates 9 mj 2 5 kwh of electrical energy each day much more than the solar panels of the now retired mars exploration rovers which generated about 2 1 mj 0 58 kwh each day.
Opportunity set a new record for travel on an extraterrestrial location by driving a total of 2806 mi 45 16 km.