Lithium-ion batteries for space 3

Background
In multiple global market applications, lithium-ion battery technology offers performance advantages over more traditional rechargeable battery design options. In spacecraft applications for Earth orbit and planetary missions, the integration of LIB designs into EPS platforms has resulted in numerous improvements in on-orbit capabilities. The greatest impact of on-orbit spacecraft LIB applications is the improvement of EPS design architectures due to mass and volume savings. Compared to traditional spacecraft battery power systems at the same power level, LIB mass and volume savings translate into improved spacecraft system performance capabilities. Recently, new commercial partnerships are driving a paradigm shift away from traditional Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA program business models. These partnerships include academic institutions, U.S. government agencies, and international organizations, and are focused on more affordable spacecraft systems and missions.
To meet these needs, today’s spacecraft applications are greatly benefiting from advances in Li-ion battery technology driven by the commercial electronics and electric transportation industries. However, spacecraft missions can require harsh electrical, thermal, and mechanical environments and long life spans that are not typically required for traditional commercial market LIB applications. Furthermore, reliability and resilience requirements for long on-orbit mission durations make the implementation of spacecraft LIB system designs a significant technical challenge. Thus, the quality, performance, and safety characteristics of spacecraft LIBs require a different set of design solutions than those currently found in commercial electronics and electrically powered transportation LIB applications. This paper provides LIB technology solutions to meet the demanding needs of spacecraft LIB power systems to address these challenges.