When we view those wonderful photos Hubble takes of exploding galaxies, we may forget it does so using battery power. The earliest satellites that winked across the night sky in the mid-1950’s had primary batteries that only lasted a few days. Nowadays, solar power panels renew batteries out in space so crafts can keep traveling for decades beyond our solar system.
Batteries Out in Space Face Special Challenges
The batteries we use in phones and laptops would not last long at all beyond earth’s atmosphere. Because they would experience extreme vibrations and acceleration as their spacecraft soared into the sky. Once in space they could be in a vacuum.
If they emitted gas, they might corrode the delicate electronics. If this happened, the vehicle’s trajectory could change, or life support systems for astronauts fail. Space batteries must survive high-ionizing radiation too. And finally, batteries out in space must be able to recycle several thousand times. That is a tall order for a technology where battery basics have not changed for centuries.
Exciting New Technologies Are on the Threshold
There is talk on the streets of water-based nuclear batteries in space, which could power satellites for centuries. According to Factor-Tech, these will obtain their energy from isotopes in a water-based solution.
The University of Missouri made a prototype where a nanostructured titanium-dioxide electrode accumulates the energy. And then changes this into electrons. A NASA spokesperson believes the tiny batteries out in space could provide “low levels of power for an extremely long period of time … at extremely low temperatures” too.
This technology is not new. Lithium rolled it over because lithium-ion was more practical. Things change, we move on, perhaps into deep space with water-based nuclear batteries someday. Scientists call this technology betavoltaics. The word ‘beta’ means ‘the second in a series’ … the second generation of volts, perhaps?
Related
The First Batteries in Space Were Silver-Zinc
Batteries in Space: Hubble Power
Preview Image: Discovery Deploys Hubble
