NASA’s Artemis program aims to put astronauts back on our moon again, as preparation to exploring deeper space. Plans are firming up for accommodation modules where astronauts could live independently, and next gen battery-power lunar vehicles in which they could roam across moon’s surface.
Storage Batteries For Next Gen Lunar Transport
Both these facilities, and more besides, will require electricity to function. This energy will be freely available from our sun during 29.5 earth-day periods, via solar panels and inverters.
But that electricity will have to come from batteries during the corresponding moon nights. This will be critical, because without heating the astronauts could not survive for long. Much the same will apply to the crewed and autonomous next gen battery-power lunar vehicles, which will continue to explore our moon by night.
YTech News confirmed on April 8, 2024 that NASA will source the vehicle batteries from the same design GM developed for transport on earth. This will mark a significant moment, when terrestrial and lunar transportation converge in terms of batteries.
We find it noteworthy that products developed to counter global warning on earth, will also be sufficiently robust to withstand harsh conditions in lunar space. Especially as the overlap will extend to developing environmentally-friendly lunar vehicles too.
More About the GM Batteries For Space
NASA has chosen General Motors’ lithium-metal batteries ‘with protected anodes’ for its moon rover. These will optimize the mix between feasibility, high performance and energy density, and should last for ten years.
Initial prototypes have successfully completed more than 150,000 miles of simulated testing, and we believe have performed well. We understand that the batteries deploy nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry, with lithium-hydroxide from Lithium Corporation of America.
More Information
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