Plasmon-Enhanced Radioisotope Thermophotovoltaic (PRTPV) Power Generation for Interstellar Missions

Keunhan ParkUniversity of Utah This proposal seeks to develop a transformative energy system, the plasmon-enhanced radioisotope Thermophotovoltaic generator, that significantly surpasses the performance of current radioisotope. The institutional report frames the development in practical terms and ties it to the broader mission or observing effort.

It matters because cosmology operates at the edge of what current instruments can measure, where systematic errors and model assumptions are never trivial. Small discrepancies between independent measurements have historically pointed toward missing physics rather than simple calibration errors, and the ongoing tension in the Hubble constant is a live example of how a persistent disagreement between methods can reshape the theoretical landscape. Each new dataset that approaches this territory with independent systematics adds real information to a problem that has resisted easy resolution for more than a decade. Keunhan ParkUniversity of Utah This proposal seeks to develop a transformative energy system, the plasmon-enhanced radioisotope Thermophotovoltaic (PRTPV) generator, that. Designed to achieve a specific power of 17 W/kg and a thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency greater than 40%.

Graphic depiction of the PRTPV concept. Keunhan Park Keunhan Park University of Utah This proposal seeks to develop a transformative energy system, the plasmon-enhanced radioisotope Thermophotovoltaic (PRTPV) generator.

Designed to achieve a specific power of 17 W/kg and a thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency greater than 40%, the PRTPV offers a sevenfold improvement in efficiency and nearly. Together, these advances overcome the low power density that limits current TPV systems.

The resulting technology is compact, efficient, and scalable, opening the door to new classes of NASA missions, including long-duration surface operations in permanently shadowed. The proposed work directly supports NASA’s long-term goals in space exploration and energy innovation.

The relevance goes beyond one dataset because even small shifts in measured parameters can matter when the field is testing the limits of the standard cosmological model. The Lambda-CDM framework describes the observable universe with remarkable economy, but its success rests on two components, dark matter and dark energy, whose physical nature remains entirely unknown. Any credible measurement that tightens or loosens the constraints on those components moves the entire theoretical enterprise forward, regardless of whether the immediate result looks dramatic on its own terms.

This proposal seeks to develop a transformative energy system -- the plasmon-enhanced radioisotope Thermophotovoltaic (PRTPV) generator -- that significantly Article Graphic. Keunhan Park Keunhan Park University of Utah Details Last Updated Jul 21, 2026 Editor Loura Hall Related Terms NIAC Studies NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program.

Because the account originates with NASA News Releases, it functions best as a primary institutional report that is close to the data and operations, not as independent scientific validation. Institutional communications are produced by organizations with legitimate interests in presenting their work in a favorable light, which does not make them unreliable but does make them partial. Details that complicate the narrative, including instrument limitations, unexpected failures and results below projections, tend to be minimized relative to progress messages. Technical documentation and peer-reviewed publications, where they exist, provide the complementary layer that institutional releases cannot substitute.

The next step is to see whether the effect survives when independent surveys, different calibration strategies and tighter control of systematic uncertainties enter the picture. Programmes such as Euclid, DESI and the Rubin Observatory will deliver datasets over the next several years that cover the same parameter space with largely independent methods. If the current signal persists through those tests, its theoretical implications will become impossible to set aside.

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