Satellite powered by nuclear energy is launched

Signals from a satellite are being transmitted with electricity from a nuclear power source developed by the Atomic Energy Commission. The Department of Defense satellite was launched recently from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., by a Thor-Able-Star missile. The nuclear device is the SNAP-9A, the third lightweight radioisotope-fueled thermoelectric generator to be used in a satellite. The first nuclear satellites were the SNAP-3's Of 1961.