In the UK, a joint effort by the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Space Agency will bring to life the world’s first space battery powered by americium-241, a nuclear-based fuel that can emit power for more than 400 years.

This project comes to renew the energy landscape for special initiatives, since, for the most part, atomic batteries work with plutonium-238, a radioisotope produced only in the United States and Russia, currently having a scarce supply.

UK researchers work on a new technology for atomic batteries

“For the past 50 years, space missions have used plutonium-238 to keep spacecraft from freezing, but the supply is very limited”said Professor Tim Tinsley, director of accounts at the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory. “We have identified significant reserves of americium-241, a radioisotope with properties similar to plutonium-238, but with game-changing potential for the UK’s space ambitions,” added.

Americium-241 is a type of isotope of americium. It is radioactive, like all isotopes of americium, and its radioactive decay takes 432.2 years, the period considered its half-life.

This isotope, which is the most frequent of americium that can be found in nuclear waste, is used mainly as a source of ionization in smoke detectors and also as a glass thickness gauge and as a source of neutrons for non-destructive testing of machinery. and equipment.

Given the current difficulty in accessing plutonium-238, space experts agree on the urgency of finding an alternative. The option presented by the British research team, in addition to proposing the use of another isotope, stands out for its long useful life, which considerably exceeds the technology currently used, which already guarantees several decades without the need to be repaired.

“This innovative method of creating americium to power space missions will allow us to not only sustain exploration of the Moon and Mars for longer periods of time, but also venture further into space than ever before,” said Dr. Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency.

This new battery will begin to be used within the next four years. As for its first uses, its presence is expected in upcoming deep space missions, such as the European Space Agency’s Argonaut mission to the Moon.