14 DAY TRIAL // The American space program has been heavily dependent on batteries for operating its spacecraft across the solar system for decades, and now NASA is looking to break away from relying on these power-storage devices. Yesterday, April 9, the organization called for proposals for creating a new class of energy-storing equipment to boost its capabilities in space, especially for longer-term missions.
Primarily, NASA is interested in new technologies for its spacecraft, but any science that derives from this call for proposals will also be used by organizations such as the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) for improving power capabilities here on Earth. The space agency is also looking to support a full-term cooperative effort with industry representatives.
The proposals NASA will soon start to accept include two main categories, High Specific Energy System Level Concepts and Very High Specific Energy Devices, the agency said in a statement. The former will focus on advanced and innovative cellular chemistry, as well as on system level battery technologies, while also improving packaging and cells integration.
The second category will aim to develop advanced energy storage technologies that are capable of exceeding the current performance limits imposed by lithium-ion (Li-Ion) batteries. At the same time, the new devices will have to maintain a comparable life cycle to Li-Ion technologies and adhere to current standards and characteristics in terms of safety
“NASA is focusing on creating new advanced technologies that could lead to entirely new approaches for the energy needs of the agency's future Earth and space missions,” explained the associate administrator for space technology at NASA' Headquarters in Washington, DC, Michael Gazarik.
“Over the next 18 months, NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate will make significant new investments that address several high priority challenges for achieving safe and affordable deep-space exploration,” the official said. The call for proposals is opened to NASA centers governmental agencies, private corporations, non-profit groups, and research, development, and educational centers.
“One of these challenges, advanced energy storage, offers new technology solutions that will address exploration and science needs while adding in an important and substantive way to America's innovation economy,” Gazarik explained. For Phase I of the solicitation, NASA will be awarding funds amounting to roughly $250,000 (€180,500) each.
This new project, called the Advanced Energy Storage Systems Appendix, is part of the NASA Research Announcement “Space Technology Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion 2014” (SpaceTech-REDDI-2014), which is managed by the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).