The near-term goal for NASA’s Moon to Mars campaign is the delivery of payloads to the Moon for scientific study and the advancement of technology capabilities to support sustained long-term lunar surface operations. Lightweight, reliable and energy dense power generation and energy storage systems are key enabling technologies to support such long duration lunar mission. Rechargeable secondary batteries with high specific energy of > 400 Wh/kg are specifically required to support planetary rovers, landers, and probes. Lynntech proposes to combine Li metal anode with Lynntech’s high capacity cathode work to potentially achieve high specific energy numbers up to 500 Wh/kg at the cell level. The Phase I project will work on addressing the safety and reliability of the Li metal anode based battery design. The phase I will focus on demonstration in relevant pouch cell format. The Phase II will demonstrate the battery at relevant scale for select application such as unpressurized lunar rover.
Apart from the targeted lunar surface mission support for rovers, landers, crew exploration vehicles and habitats, the proposed energy dense lithium ion batteries will find use in multiple NASA applications such as satellites or orbiters (LEO, GEO, HEO and planetary), astronaut equipment and EVA suites.
Proposed batteries will find military and space applications such as soldier power, communication systems, weapons systems, remote sensors, detection devices and UAVs. Specific benefits for military include extended duration missions and improved capabilities. Private sector applications include electric vehicles, auxiliary power units, and consumer electronic devices.