Historical RTG performance data through 2023

Radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG) are the only technology currently available that can provide reliable and consistent electrical power for decades while isolated in extreme environments. RTGs have been, and will continue to be, a critical enabling component in some of humankind's most impressive feats of space exploration in the past (e.g. Cassini), present (e.g. Voyager), and future (e.g. Dragonfly). Power produced by an RTG will slowly decrease over time due to decay of the radioisotope fuel and degradation of the materials within the generator. With over 60 years of history, the technology of RTGs has evolved from producing only a few electrical watts (e.g. SNAP-3B ~3 W) to nearing a kilowatt of total mission power (e.g. Cassini beginning-of-mission 887 W). They also evolved from systems that were only designed to last a few years into systems that are now exploring interstellar space 46 years after launch. Obviously, understanding how the performance of these systems cha..., UPDATE STATUS: Active missions (except for Voyager) have been updated through mid-to-late 2023.
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Power values were collected from reputable and authoritative sources and organized into a tabular format of time versus normalized power. Normalized power is the power at a given time, divided by the power at the beginning-of-mission (BOM). BOM power for each mission is also provided. Because RTGs can take days to weeks to fully equilibrate with their environment, BOM power is defined here as the maximum RTG power produced over the first 30 days of the mission. For many missions, this will be the first data point.  Other missions (e.g. Curiosity) will reach this maximum power level after several days.
BOM for RTG missions does not have a consistent definition. For deep space or orbital missions, BOM is launch. For missions where the RTG was installed on the surface of an extraterrestrial body, BOM is either the landing date (e.g. Martian landers or rovers) or the date the RTG was i..., Data is tabulated in a standard Excel spreadsheet with standard formatting. Some important contextual information is provided in the table but complete context and appreciation for the data requires information that can be found in Chapter 8 of the book, The Technology of Discovery: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators and Thermoelectric Technologies for Space Exploration (ISBN: 9781119811367).
Pedegree of the data presented in the data set can be found in the previously cited book and in the Methods section of this dataset.
The authors collected and curated this data on their own time and are making the numerical format freely available to all (i.e. no copyright). We only ask that any publication, report, or presentation that uses any values from this data set actively reference the previously cited book. If a user wishes to also present data after 2020, please also cite this dataset as described on this webpage.
For example: C.E. Whiting and D.F. Woerner, \"Chapter 8: Lifetime Perfor..., # Historical RTG Performance Data - 2023 Update

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Usage Clause - The authors collected and curated this data on their own time and are making the numerical format freely available to all (i.e. no copyright). We only ask that any publication, report, or presentation that directly, or indirectly, uses any values from this dataset reference the book where this data is presented in a copyrighted graphical format. We also ask that any uses of post-2020 performance data cite this updated dataset as described on the dataset's webpage.

**Please Reference: C.E. Whiting and D.F. Woerner, \"Chapter 8: Lifetime Performance of Spaceborne RTGs,\" The Technology of Discovery: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators and Thermoelectric Technologies for Space Exploration, D.F. Woerner, Ed., John Wiley & Sons, 2023. ISBN: 9781119811367)**

**Whiting, Christofer; Woerner, David (2023). Historical RTG Performance Data - 2023 Update [Dataset]. Dryad. **

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Brief Description:
This dataset contains...