Generator warm-up characteristics

Abstract

This document describes the warm-up process of the SNAP-27 Generator Assembly after the isotope capsule is inserted. Several inquiries have recently been received regarding this process, and deployment sequence studies are impacted. Because of the several variables associated with the turn-on of ALSEP on the lunar surface, there is no simple plot of available power as a function of time. However, some reasonable estimates can be made of available power for specific turn-on cases.