14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the Clean Space initiative at the European Space Agency (ESA) are now conducting a new study meant to determine the best way to fully inactivate batteries included aboard satellites in Earth's orbit. These power-storage devices are some of the most dangerous components on spacecraft and among the only ones to pose an explosion hazard.
Given the massive amount of space debris already in Earth's orbit, such an event is to be avoided at all costs. The new research is meant to determine the best way to achieve what experts called true and full “passivation” of highly-engineered batteries. The way these components behave following the deactivation of their carrier spacecraft is unknown, since they can no longer be observed directly.
One very important question for ESA scientists to answer is how batteries are influenced by the extremely harsh environments of Earth's orbit. Every day, these devices have to endure wild temperature swings, thermal control system degradation, as well as exposure to radiations. The research will determine when and where leakage or bursting occurs.
Before the 1990s, several satellites have experienced catastrophic failures due to their battery packs, though non-lithium designs were used at the time. The debris caused by these failures are now spinning around our planet, endangering rockets and spacecraft launching into space on other missions.