Lunar Surface Secondary Battery Modules for Continuous Day/Night Operation

Future science missions to the Lunar surface will require advanced secondary battery systems that can operate from -230 ºC to +120 ºC. Advancements that address battery operation at extreme temperatures, combined with high specific energy and energy density are critically needed. Conventional rechargeable Li-ion cells operate within a narrow temperature range of -20 to 40 ºC, and they particularly suffer from capacity loss at lower temperatures. Improved batteries combined with light weight thermal management are critically needed for diurnal lunar survival. The solution is a new battery module using new low temperature tolerant battery cells and a novel diurnal thermal management system. It is also critical to use high voltage batteries to produce the high energy density battery modules that exceed >150 Wh/kg at the full system level including thermal management.

There is an immense dual-use commercial market for low temperature batteries on Earth. Electric vehicles, electric aircraft and numerous other defense-related energy storage applications would greatly benefit from being able to work below -40 ºC. There is an immense dual-use commercial market for low temperature batteries on Earth. Electric vehicles, electric aircraft and numerous other defense-related energy storage applications would greatly benefit from being able to work below -40 ºC.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.