NASA Unveils Potential Energy Systems for Deep Space Missions

Before we Earthlings can send anything bigger than just tiny remote-control dune buggies to Mars, not to mention crews of human explorers, spacecraft builders will have to develop adequate energy storage systems.

That was the conclusion not too long ago of the National Research Council's "NASA Space Technology Roadmaps and Priorities" assessment, which called for improved energy generation and storage "with reliable power systems that can survive the wide range of environments" unique to missions flown by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

That said, NASA has announced four proposals it's determined will likely offer the best ways to advance the energy storage technologies the agency will use to power future robotic and manned missions to Mars and elsewhere.

"NASA's advanced space technology development doesn't stop with hardware and instruments for spacecraft," Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for Space Technology, said in a NASA news release. "New energy storage technology will be critical to our future exploration of deep space -- whether missions to an asteroid, Mars or beyond. That's why we're investing in this critical mission technology area."

Managed by NASA's Game Changing Development Program, the four selected technology proposals are:

• Silicon Anode Based Cells for High Specific Energy Systems, submitted by Amprius, Inc., in Sunnyvale, California;
• High Energy Density and Long-Life Li-S Batteries for Aerospace Applications, submitted by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena;
• Advanced High Energy Rechargeable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, submitted by Indiana University in Bloomington; and
• Garnet Electrolyte Based Safe, Lithium-Sulfur Energy Storage, submitted by the University of Maryland, College Park.

The development program's initial phase I awards are approximately $250,000 in funding for an eight-month component test and analysis period.

Phase II will be an engineering and unit hardware development term, during which a single annual award can reach up to $1 million, followed by phase III and an 18-month, $2 million award for developing a prototype of the technology.

NASA says it's working closely with the United States Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency and other partner organizations encourage the search for better energy storage solutions.