Abstract
Promising design concepts for small radioisotope power sources (RPS) are being sought for use in various space applications, including a multitude of future NASA scientific missions. To date, the RPS units used on various space programs have provided power levels ranging from ten to several hundred watts. Smaller spacecraft in recently proposed scientific space missions and special terrestrial applications suggest the need for lower power levels. Radioisotope power sources have the potential to enable long‐lived applications such as meteorological or seismological stations distributed across planetary surfaces, surface probes, deep space micro‐spacecraft and sub‐satellites, terrestrial sensors, transmitters, and micro‐electromechanical systems. The milliwatt size RPS ranges from 1 mW to several hundred mW and the multi‐watt RPS is in the range of 1 W to 50 W. The primary technical requirements are long life, high reliability, high specific power, and high power density. Thermoelectric conversion is of particular interest based on application of mature technologies as well as proven high reliability. Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc. (TESI) has designed and developed a number of all‐bismuth telluride and segmented BiTe/TAGS/PbSnTe‐BiTe/PbTe based thermoelectric converters at various power levels for various applications. A conceptual design effort on milliwatts and multiwatt small thermoelectric RPS was carried out at TESI with financial assistance from the Department of Energy (DOE). A number of candidate conceptual designs were considered for these milliwatt and multi‐watt RPS programs which are reviewed here with respect to anticipated performance and suitability to meet the corresponding RPS specifications and mission requirements. The various candidate designs have been reviewed and the down selected approaches have been quantified in detail. Those selections have high technology readiness levels (TRL). Final design details can be made with input from DOE/NASA on prioritization of features and specifications.
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