Will NASA Recover Apollo 13's Plutonium 238?

Apollo 13 Astronaut Fred Haise extracts the fuel element for the SNAP-26 RTG during training

Credits: NASA

Somewhere among the jagged trenches of the South Pacific sits a graphite fuel cask containing 3.9 kg of plutonium from Apollo 13.

The fate of the radioactive plutonium-238 has long been overshadowed by the successful return of the three NASA astronauts on board the ill-fated mission.

The plutonium was supposed to fuel the System for Nuclear Auxiliary Power, or SNAP-27 Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), designed to power a set of experiments on the lunar surface but after an explosion crippled the craft and forced the crew to abandon plans of a lunar landing, the plutonium became yet another problem for mission control.

Officials from NASA confidently told The New York Times that the biggest risk was that the 40-pound generator might hit someone when it fell to Earth.

“It will keep a few fish warm,” a NASA official said. The Atomic Energy Commission, on the other hand, conceded the slight possibility that it could become ground into dust and dispersed.

NASA learned its lessons about engineering the fuel casks the hard way: in 1964, the Transit-5-BN mission aborted and the RTG burned up upon reentry above Madagascar, in keeping with its design.

Traces of plutonium were found in the area months later. In 1968, the Nimbus B-1 weather satellite was aborted soon after takeoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base and the plutonium from the SNAP-19B2 RTG plunged into 300 feet of water off the California coast, with no release of radiation.

Apollo 13’s SNAP-27 fuel, as far as we know, slipped beneath the waves and came to rest 6 to 9 kilometers deep in the Tonga Trench, one of the deepest areas in the ocean.

Subsequent testing by the U.S. Department of Energy has shown no spike in background radiation.

Not surprisingly, NASA has no desire to go looking for the small cask, even with advances in submersible technology that would make such a mission at least technically feasible.

“I don’t think that anyone has seriously considered that because of the cost of recovery,” said Leonard Dudzinski, a NASA program executive who deals with radioisotope power systems.

President Nixon (right) presenting the nation’s highest civilian award to the Apollo 13 crew (left to right, J. L. Swigert, F. W. Haise, J. A. Lovell) 

Credits: NASA

Indeed, NASA is trying to source additional plutonium 238 for its future deep space missions, the U.S. no longer produces the isotope and Russia has proved to be an unreliable source, but the useful life of the Apollo 13’s plutonium has expired.

The plutonium poses little danger to the environment: the corrosion resistant cladding should withstand seawater for approximately 870 years, ten times the plutonium’s half life.

According to NASA, the plutonium itself was in oxide form and was both chemically and biologically inert when it plunged into the ocean.

Over the years, the plutonium cask, far out of sight, has fueled two contradictory positions on the safety of RTGs for deep space missions.

For NASA, its safe return to Earth proved the effectiveness of their safety engineering. “We recognize that the Apollo 13 [RTG system] worked,” Dudzinski said. “Follow on RTGs were based on that design and improved on that design.”

Critics have taken different lessons from the untimely plunges of the RTGs. In 1997, a group of safety experts, including physicist Dr. Michio Kaku, warned that 32 kg of plutonium contained in the Saturn-bound Cassini satellite posed a greater danger than NASA would acknowledge, but ultimately, their warnings did not prevented the mission from happening.

Bonhams NYC Auction: Spacesuits And Moon Notes Among The Stars

Two top lots in the sale are from Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to put men on the moon. 

An Apollo 11 mission badge (lot 210) flown with the craft into lunar orbit, and signed by the most famous space crew in history - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin - is estimated at $40,000-60,000.

Bonhams Space History sale on April 8 will feature nearly 300 fascinating artifacts related to decades of international space exploration, including genuine spacesuits, critical flight items from the famed Apollo 11 mission, lunar-flown American flags, rare photographs and astronauts' personal effects.

Two top lots in the sale are from Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to put men on the moon.

An Apollo 11 mission badge (lot 210) flown with the craft into lunar orbit, and signed by the most famous space crew in history - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin - is estimated at $40,000-60,000.

Also from Apollo 11, and estimated at $35,000-45,000, is a checklist sheet (lot 212) with notes made by Buzz Aldrin while on the moon.

Both sides of the sheet contain critical data that enabled Armstrong and Aldrin to return to earth. It is one of the most extensive sets of notations ever made on the lunar surface.

One of the more fascinating pieces in the sale is a spacesuit from the United States' first manned flight program, Project Mercury (lot 56) (est. $8,000-12,000).

Conducted between 1959 and 1963, Project Mercury aimed to put a human being into orbit around the earth.

Bonhams offer a beautiful example of a Phase 2 suit, made circa 1960, featuring the iconic silver coloring and an early "widow's peak" helmet.

In addition to the iconic Project Mercury suit, Bonhams offer a Russian Strizh spacesuit, (lot 58) designed to protect cosmonauts from ejection at altitudes up to 30 kilometers and speeds up to Mach 3 (est. $15,000-20,000).

This rare example is one of only 27 created for test and training purposes between 1981-1991, many of which were damaged or destroyed.

A NASA A6L prototype spacesuit (lot 57) will also be offered (est. $8,000-12,000).

Lunar-flown American flags are certain to attract attention. Highlights include a silk American flag (lot 211) carried to the moon by Buzz Aldrin on the Apollo 11 mission (est. $20,000-30,000), as well as a stars and stripes carried by Fred Haise (lot 249) on the infamous Apollo 13 mission (est. $15,000-20,000).

Haise intended to take the flag to the lunar surface, but the landing was scrubbed when an oxygen tank exploded causing a major electrical outage in the command and service modules.

Awe inspiring photographs and important signed portraits can be found throughout the sale. A NASA photograph of the lunar surface signed by all 12 moonwalkers is an extraordinarily rare offering (est. $8,000-12,000).

Showing an Earth rise in the distance, the image was taken as the Apollo 16 command module orbited the moon.

A Lunar Orbiter V panorama of the crater Copernicus (lot 178) is also available (est. $5,000-8,000).

The 32 large silver gelatin prints are the most comprehensive view of the crater to date.

Technology aficionados will appreciate the remarkable models and equipment available in the sale.

A motion picture ring sight (lot 139) used on the moon during Apollo 15 will be available (est. $20,000-30,000).

A Mir space station control panel (lot 28) (est. $4,000-6,000), a five foot-tall Vostok space rocket model (lot 22) (est. $10,000-15,000) and a Saturn IB rocket model (lot 97)  made by the Marshall Space Flight Center, showing the genius of Wernher von Braun and his team (est. $10,000-15,000).

Astronauts' personal effects are bound to capture the imagination of bidders.

Charles Conrad's stowage strap (lot 241) from Apollo 12 is truly out of this world, having been embedded with lunar dust transferred from the astronauts' hands while inside their lunar module (est. $25,000-35,000).

A cast of Buzz Aldrin's moon boot (lot 240), number two of three made by Chicago artist Jo Mead, embodies both the spirit of 1960's Pop Art and period's fascination with the cosmos (est. $20,000-30,000).

Equally striking is the Cosmonaut Survival Machete (Lot 65), of the same design carried by all Russian Soyuz flights to assist the cosmonaut crew after a remote unscheduled landing (est. $500-700).

The Space History sale will take place April 8 at Bonhams New York. The sale will preview at Bonhams April 4-8.

The complete catalogue is available here

Aerospace Legends - Age shall not dull their achievements

A historic gathering of Aerospace legends in 2010. 

From left: Neil Armstrong, first man on the Moon; James Lovell, Commander, Apollo 13; Security man; Eugene Cernan, last man on the Moon (Apollo 17); Capt Eric Brown; Wg Cdr Andy Green, driver of first supersonic car ThrustSSC; Security man and Bob Gilliland, former Principal Test Pilot on the SR-71 at the Lockheed Skunk Works. 

Credit: Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, HonFRAeS, RN

Eric Brown is a former UK Royal Navy officer and test pilot who has flown more types of aircraft than anyone else.

He is the UK Fleet Air Arm’s most decorated pilot and holds the world record for aircraft carrier landings. He was UK Royal Aeronautical Society's (RAeS) President 1982-1983.

Arguably the UK’s greatest test pilot, aviation record holder and former RAeS President Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown wrote a personal tribute to astronaut Neil Armstrong ‘a kindred spririt’, who passed away earlier this year.

Read this article from the December edition of Aerospace Professional here.