NASA’s Curiosity rover used a nuclear-powered radioisotope generator from its 2012 landing.
Curiosity landed in Gale crater on August 6, 2012, using the sky-crane landing system. Instead of relying on solar panels, it used a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG, to produce electricity from the heat released by decaying plutonium-238.
This power system lets Curiosity work during night, winter, dust, and reduced sunlight. The rover’s main scientific goal is to determine whether Gale crater once offered environmental conditions suitable for microbial life.
Perseverance also uses an MMRTG, but it landed in 2021 and is a different rover. Curiosity’s nuclear power source should not be confused with a nuclear reactor: an RTG generates electricity from decay heat rather than from a controlled chain reaction.