AEA Battery Systems powers mission to Mars
10th June 2003
AEA Battery Systems (AEABS) provides power solution for European 'Mars Express' spacecraft and British-led 'Beagle 2' lander.
UK based AEA Technology Battery Systems contributed to the race to find life on Mars this week with the launch of 'Mars Express', Europe's first voyage to another planet. Both the spacecraft 'Mars Express' and its 'Beagle 2' lander which sits on top benefit from AEA Technology's unique lithium-ion battery technology.
Pioneered by AEA Technology, Lithium-ion technology has revolutionised the commercial electronics industry over the last 15 years, but it is only now that AEA Technology has further developed the battery technology that its unique properties have become important to the space industry. The state-of-the-art Lithium-ion batteries used in the mission were designed and built by AEA Technology's space battery business in Oxfordshire.
The Culham-based Space Battery business designed, built and tested the Lithium-ion batteries on-board the Mars Express spacecraft, which will take a payload of seven scientific instruments to the red planet, and on the Beagle 2 lander.
AEA Technology's Lithium ion batteries provide:
- greatly reduced mass to energy-density ratio
- no 'memory effect' found in other battery chemistries - therefore allowing a full re-charge every time
- greater operating temperature range - allowing for full functioning even in the harsh Martian landscape
Fitted with AEA Technology's advanced lithium-ion batteries the 'Mars Express' space-craft and 'Beagle 2' lander will benefit from a continuous power supply even whilst the vehicles are 'in eclipse', when their solar panels become ineffective. The solar panels are then used to re-charge the batteries that power the lander and the experiments throughout the mission.
It was the challenge of providing power to the Mars Express craft in the vacuum of space and the Beagle 2 experiments through the freezing Martian night that proved the greatest challenge and could only be met through a combination of unique lithium-ion technology, novel engineering design and a stringent test programme.
Mars Express
The craft 'Mars Express' will map the Martian surface and analyse its atmosphere. It carries radar instruments that can detect water several km below surface, its main scientific goal being to detect vast reservoirs of water thought to be trapped under the Martian surface.
Beagle 2 Lander
The Beagle 2 Lander will search for signs of past and present life using its 'instrument paw', which can retrieve rocks and soil for examination, it also carries the first gas analysis experiment to travel to another planet.
As Mars Express nears the planet, it will drop Beagle 2 into a basin that could once have contained water and life. The small robotic probe, about the size of a garden barbecue, will then dig into Martian rocks and soil to search for the chemical signature of life.
AEA Technology's other space business, ESTL, was involved in the design and construction of the component parts of the Beagle 2 mission, bringing its space tribology expertise to the project in a number of areas ranging from the solid lubrication of the spin-up and eject mechanism on Mars Express, to the adhesion testing of the separation device of the airbag gas generator, to the lubrication, build and test of the main lid and solar array hinges as well as the robotic arm joints.
Between them, Mars Express and Beagle 2 could answer one of the biggest questions in science: Is there, or was there, life on Mars?
--Ends--
Notes to Editors
AEA Battery Systems
AEA Battery Systems is a world-leading battery technology supplier, its reputation deriving from the invention of Lithium-ion technology. The company researches, develops, designs and manufactures advanced cells and battery packs for specialist markets which include defence, medical, emergency services and space applications. Incorporating its specialist cell manufacturing Joint Venture Company, AGM Batteries, the company employs 170 people in the UK between sites in Culham, Oxfordshire and Thurso, Caithness.
AEA Battery Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of AEA Technology plc. AEA Technology plc has core businesses in environment and rail and several portfolios of smaller businesses in which AEA Battery Systems features as a Value Development business.
The Culham-based space business has been selected to supply Lithium-ion batteries to 26 spacecraft from major European Space Agency and NASA programmes to small satellites.
Lithium-ion is an emerging technology within the space industry, offering significant benefits in mass over Nickel based technologies. Batteries produced by AEA Technology have typically exceeded 110 Wh/kg. The first European Space Agency mission to be powered by Lithium-ion was the PROBA spacecraft launched in October 2001 using a battery supplied by AEA Technology.
ESTL has been involved in the European space programme since the very first European satellite, OTS, was launched in 1978. Since then, ESTL has been involved in some way in virtually every European spacecraft without a single failure in orbit
ESTL is a centre of excellence in the specialised field of space tribology solutions and satellite mechanism testing. It applies the science of tribology to the harsh and demanding environment experienced by mechanisms operating on spacecraft and also transfers its specialised products and services to high integrity vacuum applications on Earth
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