Applications

Applications

Space Applications

Space Applications

Growing needs for energy storage in space exploration. Technology used depends on nature of mission profile.

Crewed missions require additional design considerations to protect humans from potential toxic thermal runaway byproduct gasses. Space cells must tolerate wide temperature ranges which can impact electrolyte seal integrity due to thermal expansion rate differences. Applications

Ambient Pressure

Mission example

Cell chemistry example

Avg. mission duration

Radiation

Avg. temperature

Design challenges

Earth

101.3 kPa

Electric vehicle

Graphite + NCM

8-12 years

H-3, Be-7, C-14,Na-22 0.21mSv/year

-30°C to +40°C

Corrosion

Upper atmosphere

200 Pa

Stratostats

Graphite + LCO

<100 days

He, Li- through Fe ions Neutrons 1-10 MeV 1.2 Neutrons/cm^2/s,

-20°C to -60°C

Low temperatures, icing, pressure variations

Low earth orbit (LEO)

10-6 - 10-9 Pa

ISP satellites

Graphite + NCA or LFP

<30 days (humans) 4 - 26 years (constellations)

1000-10 M Protons and Electrons/cm2/s

-65°C to +125°C

Sealing under frequent temperature variation

Geosynchronous orbit (GEO)

10-12 Pa

Media broadcasting

Graphite + NCA or Nickel Hydrogen

>7 years (many operating past EOL)

400-500 km/s Protons & Electrons 30/cm^2/s

-196°C to +128°C

Calendar life, high cycle-life

Lunar

3 x 10-9 Pa

Lunar rover

Pu-238 RTG (radioisotope thermal generator)

3 months design, 31 months life (Jade Rabbit rover)

Protons, Electrons 10-10000 MeV, 1-10 Protons/cm2/s

-130°C to +120°C

Extended duration of hot and cold/dark periods

Mars

560 Pa

Martian rover

Graphite + NCA

90 days NASA design (Opportunity lasted ~15 years)

Protons, Electrons 1-1000 MeV, 100-1000/s

-153°C to +20°C

Sealing under temperature variation, RTG radiation

Deep space

10-14 - 10-18 Pa

Deep space probes

Pu-238 RTG (radioisotope thermal generator)

45+ years (Voyager)

Protons, Electrons 1-10,000 MeV 100-10,000/s

Calendar life, RTG radiation and decreasing heating

Source: (1) NASA (2) Virtue Market Research (3) E3S (4) Zhang, J., et al. (5) ESA (6) Singh, L., et al. (7) NASA (8) IDA Org (9) Naito, M., et al. (10) Guo, J., et al. (11) NASA (12) Phys Org (13) NASA (14) NASA (15) Space Flight

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.