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Acronym: GW
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gigawatt
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y of the use of nuclear power (top) and the number of active nuclear power plants (bottom).]] Installed nuclear capacity initially rose relatively quickly, rising from less than 1 gigawatt (GW) in 1960 to 100 GW in the late 1970s, and 300 GW in the late 1980s. Since the late 1980s worldwide capacity has risen much more slowly, reaching 366 GW in 2005. Between around 1970 and 1990, more than |
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Acronym: IAEA
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International Atomic Energy Agency
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le= Nuclear's Great Expectations: Projections Continue to Rise for Nuclear Power, but Relative Generation Share Declines | date= 2008-09-11 | publisher= International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) | accessdate= 2008-09-20 }} ==Nuclear reactor technology== Image:Nuclear Power Plant Cattenom a.png|right|thumb|270px|[[Cattenom Nuclear Power Plant.]] Just as many conventional [[the |
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Acronym: DU
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depleted uranium
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Acronym: SNAP
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Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power Program
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irway Rock Island]] in Alaska, where it remained in use until its removal in 1995. A common application of RTGs is as power sources on spacecraft. Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power Program (SNAP) units were used especially for probes that travel far enough from the Sun that solar panels are no longer viable. As such they are used with Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, [[ |
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Acronym: GEO
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geosynchronous orbit
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<comment>/* Space debris in fiction */ revision</comment> <text xml:space="preserve">File:Debris-GEO1280.jpg|thumb|Space debris populations seen from outside [[geosynchronous orbit (GEO). Note the two primary debris fields, the ring of objects in GEO, and the cloud of objects in low earth orbit (LEO).]] '''Space debris''', also known as '''orbital debris''', '''space junk''' a |
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Acronym: LEO
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Low Earth Orbit
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Creation of a Debris Belt", Kessler 1978 which showed that the same process that controlled the evolution of the asteroids would cause a similar collisional process in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), but instead of billions of years, the process would only take decades. The paper concluded that by about the year 2000, the collisions from debris formed by this process would outnumber micrometeori |
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Acronym: ISS
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International Space Station
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panel. D. Lear, et all, [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080010742_2008009999.pdf "STS-118 Radiator Impact Damage"], NASA The International Space Station (ISS) uses extensive Whipple shielding to protect itself from minor debris threats. Thoma, K., M. Wicklein and E. Schneider, D. Danesy (editor). [http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/SPACE2005/00155/SPACE2005-A- |
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Acronym: COPUOS
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United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
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liminated their future contribution. There is no international treaty mandating behavior to minimize space debris, but the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) did publish voluntary guidelines in 2007. [http://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/library/2007_STSC_SD_Mitigation_Guidelines.pdf "UN Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines."] As of 2008, the commit |
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Acronym: MRO
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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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re]] Sounding) on board the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe, and SHARAD (mars SHAllow RADar sounder) on JPL's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Both are currently operational. A similar instrument (primarily devoted to ionospheric Plasma (physics)|plasma probing) was embarked on the Japanese martian mission Nozomi (probe)|Nozomi |
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Acronym: SNAP
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Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power Program
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ly known launch of a U.S. nuclear reactor into space (although many radioisotope thermoelectric generators have also been launched). The Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power Program (SNAP) reactor was developed under the SNAPSHOT program overseen by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Launched by an ATLAS Agena D rocket on April 3, 1965, SNAP-10A maintained a [[Low_Earth_Orbit|low earth |
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