U.S. RPS Use To Date

NASA tasked Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to prepare the Nuclear Power Assessment Study (NPAS) completed in 2015. The objective of the study was to ”Discuss a sustainable strategy and present findings for the provisioning of safe, reliable, and affordable nuclear power systems that enable NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) missions and is extensible to Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) needs in the next 20 years.”

Table 4-1 (PDF) of the NPAS Final Report, includes the space nuclear systems launched by the US since 1961. This includes NASA’s RPS-enabled missions, as well as Radioisotope Heater Unit (RHU)-enabled missions. View a PDF version of the final report.

NASA has applied the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for RPS- and RHU-enabled missions launched since the 1980s. NASA’s Mission Support Directorate, Office of Strategic Infrastructure, Environmental Management Division, manages NASA’s NEPA program and has compiled these documents at NEPA Documents for NASA RPS-Enabled and RHU-Enabled Missions page.