Voyages into space are among the most iconic endeavors of the 20th and 21st centuries. Spacecraft that have ventured out to this “final frontier” have relayed stunning images and enlightening ...

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory are breathing new life into the scientific understanding of neptunium, a unique, radioactive, metallic element—and a key ...

Plutonium is not a fun word to speak, hear, or write. Used to depict an actinide metal we've known about for some time, it has become synonymous with human-caused destruction on a hard-to-comprehend ...

One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today. Listen 4:04 NASA is running out of the ...

Twenty years ago, I began to learn about plutonium-238, the isotope of plutonium used in space. I was familiar with plutonium-239, built up in nuclear power plants and used in nuclear weapons. My ...

A rare radioactive isotope stands between NASA and its next generation of deep-space exploration. Plutonium-238, the fuel that powers spacecraft venturing too far from the Sun for solar panels to work ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy has produced its first batch of non-weapons grade plutonium, used to power space probes, since a nuclear reactor shutdown 25 ...

Plutonium is one of the most complex elements in the periodic table. First synthesized and isolated in 1940 by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, plutonium has been studied closely ...

The U.S. Department of Energy has produced its first batch of non-weapons grade plutonium, since a nuclear reactor shutdown 25 years ago, NASA officials said on Monday. According to a Reuters report, ...