Dec 23, 2015 02:02 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

For the first time in about 30 years, United States scientists produced Plutonium-238, which NASA uses to power its Mars rovers.

According to Forbes, the last time the U.S. produced Plu-238 was the 1980s when the Department of Energy did so at its Savannah River Plant in South Carolina. The DOE announced Wednesday it produced about 50 grams of Plu-238 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

"This significant achievement by our teammates at DOE signals a new renaissance in the exploration of our solar system," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C., said in a press release. "Radioisotope power systems are a key tool to power the next generation of planetary orbiters, landers and rovers in our quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe."

As NASA continues to develop plans to trek farther into space and, sooner than that, send more autonomous bots into space, it will need Plu-238 to help fuel its equipment. The 50 grams of Plu-238 the DOE made for NASA was about the size of a golf ball and represents a larger effort producing the material.

"Once we automate and scale up the process, the nation will have a long-range capability to produce radioisotope power systems such as those used by NASA for deep space exploration," Bob Wham, who leads the project for the lab's Nuclear Security and Isotope Technology Division, said in another press release. "With this initial production of plutonium-238 oxide, we have demonstrated that our process works and we are ready to move on to the next phase of the mission."

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