General-Purpose Heat Source: Research and development program: Cold-Process Verification Test Series

Abstract

The General-Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) provides power for space missions by transmitting the heat of {sup 238}Pu decay to an array of thermoelectric elements. Because any space mission could experience a launch abort or return from orbit, the heat source must be designed and constructed to survive credible accident environments. Previous testing conducted in support of the Galileo and Ulysses missions documented the response of GPHSs and individual GPHS capsules fueled with {sup 238}UO{sub 2} ({sup 235}U-depleted) to a variety of explosive overpressure and impact events. In the early 1990s, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) resumed fabrication of {sup 238}UO{sub 2} GPHS pellets. The Cold-Process Verification (CPV) Test Series was designed to compare the response of GPHS heat sources loaded with recently fabricated hot- and cold-pressed {sup 238}UO{sub 2} pellets to the response of urania pellets used in the Galileo and Ulysses performance tests. This report documents eleven bare-capsule impacts and one impact of a fully loaded GPHS module. All of the failures observed in the bare-clad impact tests were similar to failures observed in previous safety tests. No failures occurred in the module impact test.