Nuclear Engine
Aerojet Rocketdyne offers unique expertise to benefit the nuclear industry, providing more than 70 years of experience designing and producing highly reliable, high-performance systems that operate in extreme environments.
- System Engineering & Integration
- Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA I-III)
- External Events and Common Cause Failure Analysis
- Reliability, Availability and Maintainability
- Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
- System Safety and Hazard Analysis
- Software Safety Analysis
- Failure Detection, Isolation and Recovery (FDIR)
- Failure Investigation and Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
- Advanced Hydrogen Mitigation Technology
Program Milestones
More than 50 years of space nuclear, terrestrial and liquid metal reactor heritage technologies
Space
2004 – present - Multi Mission Radioisotope (MMRTG)
2004 - Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO)
1980s - 1990s - Dynamic Isotope Power Systems (DIPS)
1980s - 1990s - SP-100
1950s - 1960s - SNAP Reactor Assembly
Terrestrial
1970s - 1980s - Thermal Hydrogen Recombiner
1984 – 1988 - Sodium Advanced Fast Reactor (SAFR)
1972 – 1982 - Clinch River Breeder Reactor (CRBR)
1970s - 1980s - Fast Flux Test Facility
1962 - Hallan Power Plant
1957 - Sodium Reactor Experiments
Aerojet Rocketdyne is powering the Mars Curiosity rover around the surface of the red planet with an in-space, nuclear powered battery called the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG. It’s a uniquely capable source of power that converts heat into electricity, providing continuous electrical power that allows day and night operation. The MMRTG has a design life of 14 years, and is built to operate in a range of harsh environments – from the vacuum of deep space to extreme planetary surface atmospheres, like Mars.
