Sodium sulfur battery flight experiment definition study
- Author:
- Minck, Robert
- Published:
- JAN 1, 1989.
- Physical Description:
- 1 electronic document
- Additional Creators:
- Chang, Rebecca R.
- Access Online:
- hdl.handle.net
- Restrictions on Access:
- Unclassified, Unlimited, Publicly available.
- Summary:
- Sodium-sulfur batteries were identified as the most likely successor to nickel-hydrogen batteries for space applications. One advantage of the Na/S battery system is that the usable specific energy is two to three times that of nickel-hydrogen batteries. This represents a significant launch cost savings or increased payload mass capabilities. Sodium-sulfur batteries support NASA OAST's proposed Civil Space Technology Initiative goal of a factor of two improvement in spacecraft power system performance, as well as the proposed Spacecraft 2000 initiative. The sodium-sulfur battery operates at between 300 and 400 C, using liquid sodium and sulfur/polysulfide electrodes and solid ceramic electrolyte. The transport of the electrode materials to the surface of the electrolyte is through wicking/capillary forces. These critical transport functions must be demonstrated under actual microgravity conditions before sodium-sulfur batteries can be confidently utilized in space. Ford Aerospace Corporation, under contract to NASA Lewis Research Center, is currently working on the sodium-sulfur battery space flight experiment definition study. The objective is to design the experiment that will demonstrate operation of the sodium-sulfur battery/cell in the space environment with particular emphasis on evaluation of microgravity effects. Experimental payload definitions were completed and preliminary designs of the experiment were defined.
- Collection:
- NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) Collection.
- Note:
- Document ID: 19890013638.
Accession ID: 89N23009.
NASA, Lewis Research Center, Space Electrochemical Research and Technology Conference: Abstracts; p 36. - Terms of Use and Reproduction:
- No Copyright.
- Access Online:
- hdl.handle.net
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