WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - NASA said that its researchers are working to develop a battery that could function in the brutal cold of the Moon's South Pole, where nighttime temperatures plunge to minus 328 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 200 Celsius.
For future lunar operations, a battery will need to work immediately when warmed up and be able to power everything from an astronaut's emergency kit to a rover capable of exploring the Moon's darkest craters - all without posing a fire hazard.
A team of NASA researchers is working in the project called Solid Power for Extreme Environment Adaptability and Resilience in Space, or SPEARS. It could provide NASA with an important tool to help power humanity's sustained presence on the Moon through the Artemis campaign.
'Batteries have become an important part of our lives here on Earth, which enable our laptops, cell phones, power tools, and even our vehicles,' said Donald Dornbusch, principal investigator for SPEARS at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. 'We will need them on the Moon, too, and these batteries will be required to operate reliably and safely in this harsh environment. That's why we're working on this technology.'
Traditional lithium-ion batteries like those in cell phone and laptop have a critical weakness: they rely on liquid electrolytes. Cool a conventional battery to the Moon's nighttime temperatures, and that liquid would freeze, potentially damaging the battery. Heat it up too much to daytime lunar temperatures and it won't work until cooled. Expose the liquid to the vacuum of space, and it evaporates.
SPEARS batteries solve these problems by replacing the liquid electrolyte with a solid ceramic- or polymer-based material, NASA says. This change could unlock several advantages, mainly, they could operate in the heat and extreme cold.
'We proved for the first time that these cells can work down to minus 80 degrees Celsius,' said Yi Lin, SPEARS testing and research lead at NASA Langley.
Lin also said he's confident they can improve performance and maybe even expand that range in coming years.
The batteries need to remain reliable through exposure to the Moon's wild temperature swings between day and night. The thermal vacuum testing showed that after exposure to temperature extremes from 212 F (100 C) to minus 274 F (minus 170 C), SPEARS batteries don't sustain damage.
The applications for these solid-state batteries are nearly limitless, from small tools like drills that must operate in shadowed lunar craters, to rovers and emergency power packs for astronauts. They also could provide power solutions for long-duration scientific instruments.
While SPEARS is designed for space, the technology could be spun off into Earth-based applications too, according to the US space agency.
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