NASA Investigating Nuclear Power fault on Next Mars Rover

NASA is trying to fix a power problem it discovered in the nuclear power plant of the $2.3 billion Mars Science Laboratory, the next rover scheduled to explore Mars, reports said.

NASA preparations to launch Curiosity in 2011; the rover received a new name after the agency conduct a countrywide student contest last year. But just recently, the agency revealed a "slightly faster than wait for degradation rate" in the rover's radioisotope thermoelectric generator, which will increase the craft's range & whole lifetime on the red planet.

The generator uses 10 pounds of plutonium dioxide, regularly plutonium-238, as a heat source, the report said. A NASA engineer said that the agency is now working with the Department of Energy to understand the dilemma. So far, the only expected collision is that the rover will required some additional operational workarounds during the Martian winter.

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