Next-Generation Batteries Could Power Microsatellites

March 1, 2017

Daniel Perez, Ph.D., displays a piece of the prototype structure for a new solid-state battery. (Photo: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis)

NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the University of Miami are developing a new solid-state battery prototype that could revolutionize the way NASA operates microsatellites such as CubeSats. Rather than placing a battery in the experiment, taking up 20 to 35 percent of the available volume, the battery now resides in the payload structure, thereby opening up additional free space for researchers to perform more science.

This technology could be used on satellite structural trusses, the International Space Station, or to power habitat structures established on another planet. If this type of battery could be added to current homes or buildings, or included in the walls during construction, they would be an added or alternate source of power.

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