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Rads to Watts

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A notional spacecraft with a high-power agile plasma thruster is powered by novel kilowatt-level radiovoltaics (cells that turn radiation directly into electricity).
Artist’s concept: A notional spacecraft with a high-power agile plasma thruster is powered by novel kilowatt-level radiovoltaics (cells that turn radiation directly into electricity). The use of radiovoltaics would enable space vehicles to travel to highly radioactive regions of space that are inaccessible to spacecraft otherwise powered by delicate solar arrays. | Download Source: DARPA | Alan Clarke

Rads to Watts

The ultimate vision of Rads to Watts is to enable radiovoltaics that convert high-power nuclear radiation into kilowatts of electrical energy.

Enabling the operation of radiovoltaics at higher radiation fluences (i.e., number of radiation particles crossing a defined area or energy per unit area) will enable long-lived, unattended high-power sources for new operating domains that are power-starved and/or for which a logistics supply chain to replenish power sources does not exist. | Program: Rads to Watts

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