Thermal and Electrical Analysis of Mars Rover RTGs

The RTG designs described in the preceding paper in these proceedings were analyzed for their thermal and electrical performance. Each analysis consisted of coupled thermal, thermoelectric, and electrical analyses, using Fairchild-generated specialized computer codes. These were supplemented with preliminary structural and mass analyses. For each design, various cases representing different operating conditions (water-cooled/radiation-cooled, BOM/EOM, summer/winter, day/night) and different thermoelectric performance assumptions (from conservative to optimistic) were analyzed; and for every case, the heat flow rates, temperatures and electrical performance of each layer of thermoelectric elements and of the overall RTG were determined. The analyses were performed in great detail, to obtain accurate answers permitting meaningful comparisons between different designs. The results presented show the RTG performance achievable with current technology, and the performance improvements that would be achievable with various technology developments