The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plays a crucial role in the space industry by providing essential technologies and research support for space exploration and national security missions. It acts as a key partner with NASA and other agencies in developing space-based power systems, including radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) and fission surface power systems, which provide electricity and heat in the harsh conditions of space. The DOE also contributes to space science research, particularly in understanding dark matter and dark energy, and supports the development of quantum technologies for space applications. Keywords associated with the DOE's space involvement include radioisotope power systems, space nuclear power, quantum technology, NASA partnerships, and space exploration.
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The JETSON reactor design draws heavily from the 2018 Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) demonstration led by NASA and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
NASA’s Pandora mission, projected to launch in 2024 or 2025, uses a Saturn-class microsat and was designed by NASA and the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to study the atmospheres of exoplanets.
US Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced that space-based solar power is now part of the clean energy mix pursued by the DOE.
Honeywell partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory on a year-long collaboration to prototype and support commercialization of a cartridge-based hydrogen fuel storage solution for uncrewed aerial vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Energy will offer an additional $3,500,000,000 in financing to bolster domestic battery manufacturing for vehicles and the national power grid.
The funding package includes $10,000,000,000 in new funding from a U.S. Department of Energy loan program geared toward clean vehicles.
The second launch of the Bolt Rocket was conducted under the Responsive Development Experiment (ReDX) program for the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).
In 2022, Westinghouse was awarded a joint NASA and Department of Energy contract to produce an initial design concept for a fission lunar surface power system.
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources awarded NV5 Global a three-year, $5,000,000 contract to provide technical consulting services for the development of new residential, multifamily, and industrial energy efficiency programs.
NASA planetary missions use RPS fueled by plutonium-238, and the Department of Energy produces only enough plutonium-238 to support key NASA missions.
NASA is working with the U.S. Department of Energy to ensure it has sufficient plutonium-238 for missions projected to launch through the end of the decade.
NASA and the Department of Energy expect to reach the 1.5 kg-per-year plutonium-238 production goal in 2026.
Under NASA’s Fission Surface Power project, the Department of Energy awarded three commercial design efforts to develop nuclear power plant concepts for use on the lunar surface and potentially Mars.
NASA has been working on nuclear thermal propulsion technologies through July 2021 awards made in cooperation with the Department of Energy to BWX Technologies, General Atomics, and Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies.
The July 2021 NASA–DOE contracts to BWX Technologies, General Atomics, and Ultra Safe Nuclear Technologies were valued at $5,000,000 each for one year and covered NTP reactor design.
Descartes Labs was spun off from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2014.
McQ has been supplying the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy, Department of Justice, and other U.S. government agencies and commercial customers with security and surveillance systems for over 35 years.
The U.S. Department of Energy provided the MMRTG to NASA through an ongoing partnership to develop power systems for civil space applications.
The executive order directs the Department of Energy to complete a three-year effort to develop technology for the production of high-assay low enriched uranium (HALEU).
The executive order directs NASA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and other agencies to collaborate on a common technology roadmap coordinating terrestrial-based advanced nuclear reactor and space-based nuclear power and propulsion efforts through 2030.