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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Dragonfly, a Pu-fueled drone heading to Titan, gets key NASA approval
Curiosity landed on Mars sporting a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in 2012, and a second NASA rover, Perseverance, landed in 2021. Both are still rolling across the red planet in the name of science. Another exploratory craft with a similar plutonium-238–fueled RTG but a very different mission—to fly between multiple test sites on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon—recently got one step closer to deployment.
On April 25, NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) announced that the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s icy moon passed its critical design review. “Passing this mission milestone means that Dragonfly’s mission design, fabrication, integration, and test plans are all approved, and the mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself,” according to NASA.
Karl Boline
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 31 | Number 4 | July 1997 | Pages 463-467
Technical Paper | Eleventh Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A30802
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Keeping cryogenic targets cold until immediately before a laser shot is essential for OMEGA (University of Rochester) cryogenic experiments. This is accomplished by use of a rapidly removed cryogenic shroud. To remove this shroud, a cryogenic heat transfer joint is required that can conduct significant amounts of heat and be easily engaged and disengaged while producing minimal vibration. A prototype of a Cryogenic Parting Joint that can perform this function was designed, built, and tested. Tests were performed using this device at liquid nitrogen (LN2) and liquid helium (LHe) temperatures. The test results showed that, under both sets of conditions, the design concept is suitable for use in the final system design. This paper describes the test apparatus and presents the test results.