France’s Framatome and UK start-up Perpetual Atomics, a spin out for the University of Leicester, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to study the industrialisation of processing americium into sealed sources for radioisotope power systems (space batteries). These include radioisotope heater units (RHUs) and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
Radioisotope power systems harnesses the decay of radioisotopes to generate heat, which can be used as a heat source or converted into electricity. Americium-241, with a half-life of approximately 430 years, is especially suitable for long-duration space missions. Under the MOU, the two companies aim to scale up the production and manufacturing of these power systems to support future space exploration efforts.
“The partnership forges Perpetual Atomics’s cutting-edge technology in radioisotope nuclear power systems with Framatome’s global nuclear pedigree in production-scale industrialisation,” said Dr Kason Bala, Chief Commercial Officer, UK Defence and Space at Framatome Ltd.
“The UK and Europe host a large inventory of americium, and this combined with the technology maturity, know-how, and industrial capability to scale production and manufacturing establishes an important foundation for the UK and European Space Agency (ESA) programmes,” noted Professor Richard Ambrosi, Chief Scientific Officer, founder & Director of Perpetual Atomics.
Framatome Space and Framatome Ltd will be supporting the UK and the European Space Agency’s lunar and Mars mission programmes planned for the end of this decade.
