Light-weight radioisotope heater unit (LWRHU) impact tests

The light-weight radioisotope heater unit (LWRHU) is a 238PuO2-fueled heat source designed to provide one thermal watt in each of various locations on a spacecraft. Los Alamos National Laboratory designed, fabricated, and safety tested the LWRHU. The heat source consists of a hot-pressed 238PuO2 fuel pellet, a Pt-30Rh vented capsule, a pyrolytic graphite insulator, and a fineweave-pierced fabric graphite aeroshell assembly. To compare the performance of the LWRHUs fabricated for the Cassini mission with the performance of those fabricated for the Galileo mission, and to determine a failure threshold, two types of impact tests were conducted. A post-reentry impact test was performed on one of 180 flight-quality units produced for the Cassini mission and a series of sequential impact tests using simulant-fueled LWRHU capsules were conducted respectively. The results showed that deformation and fuel containment of the impacted Cassini LWRHU was similar to that of a previously tested Galileo LWRHU. Both units...