Space Environment Evaluation Test of Solid-State-Ceramic Battery Advanced Energy Storage Under Vacuum and Thermal Vacuum

The desired capabilities of small satellites to enable their applications in communication, earth observation, and new scientific instruments require advanced energy storage to face the design’s challenges with the constraints of volume and mass. Small batteries with high energy density may be the solution. New lithium-ion battery technologies areimproved in order to meet these requirements by bringing higher energy density and a wide temperature range than the commercially available ones as well as a lower risk of explosion. In this paper, the ability of solid-state-ceramic batteries to withstand the vacuum and thermal vacuum for low earth orbit applications has been demonstrated, with a minimum safety issue. So far, this technology has never been flown in space. This paper also provides a guideline for the battery evaluation test where the main lines are represented. Batteries are tested under vacuum and thermal vacuum, where they are discharged and charged during several cycles between two temperatures limits. The evaluation focuses on analyzing the physical degradation, the discharge capacity, and the internal resistance before and after each test. Batteries have showed promising results regarding their survivability to thermal vacuum. After several cycles, they have kept almost the same performances, with the same internal resistance and 98% of capacity.