Once the power system that can utilize nuclear waste is successfully developed, it can play a role in any task that cannot use solar energy. For example, we carried out exploration missions on the moon for 14 Earth days. The European Space Agency wants the Argonaut lunar lander (Artwork) to use americium powered batteries. The lander is scheduled to be launched in the early 2030's and will conduct long-term research on the lunar surface. Photo source: According to a recent report on the website of the European Space Agency (ESA) Nature, the European Space Agency (ESA) agreed to fund a project called "European Equipment Using Radioisotope Energy" (ENDURE) at the meeting of the Council of the European Space Agency (ESA) held in Paris from November 22 to 23 local time. The plan aims to develop a device that uses the radioisotope Americium-241 to provide power to replace the existing plutonium-238 battery and help the EU explore the moon and beyond. In the report, Nature pointed out that European scientists are developing a battery powered by americium-241, a nuclear waste. ESA hopes that by the end of this century, these devices can provide long-term power for spacecraft without relying on solar panels, so as to help the agency explore the moon and remote regions of the solar system. ESA plans to provide US $30 million for the ENDURE project. Jason Hatton, the joint director of the project and the European Space Research and Technology Center, said: "The European Space Agency will have many ambitious space exploration missions in the future. If we want to have autonomy in exploration, we need to have long-term power supplies developed by ourselves." At present, for tasks that cannot be completed by solar energy, ESA relies on plutonium-238 batteries developed by U.S. or Russian partners to provide power for related tasks. However, in the past 10 years, the supply of plutonium-238 has been in short supply and the production cost is high. For a long time, the lack of power has restricted the development of space missions independently proposed by European scientists. For example, in 2014, ESA's Comet "Filai" lander landed in a place where the comet could not be illuminated by the sun, and the solar panels on it became useless, leading to the "Filai" entering a deep sleep state after less than three days of operation. Athena Kustannis, an astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory in Medon, France, who is the chairman of the ESA Advisory Committee supporting the new plan, said: "For many years, European scientists have been saying that if you want to go far away, or to go to dark and cold places, there is no other way." Advantages Americium is a by-product of plutonium decay, and also a component of nuclear waste that is difficult to treat at present. It has never been used as fuel before. Veronica Fele Kafrowa, the co leader of the ENDURE project, said that the biggest advantage of americium compared with plutonium is that it is cheaper and richer, and can reuse the waste that was originally useless. Marcus Langraf, ESA lunar mission coordinator, pointed out that the half-life of americium is longer than that of plutonium-238, which means it has a longer life. Although each gram of americium contains less energy, because it is easier to obtain, the cost of providing equivalent electricity is about one fifth of that of plutonium. Plutonium-238 is irradiated with neutron to neptunium target
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