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I was curious so looked it up, this is what the batteries look like: https://spaceflight101.com/iss-expedition-47/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ISS-Battery-ORU.jpg

I was curious so looked it up, this is what the batteries look like: https://spaceflight101.com/iss-expedition-47/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ISS-Battery-ORU.jpg https://spaceflight101.com/iss-expedition-47/wp-content/uplo... (from https://archive.is/D1qbD https://archive.is/D1qbD / https://spaceflight101.com/iss-sets-up-for-battery-switch-c2v2-testing/ https://spaceflight101.com/iss-sets-up-for-battery-switch-c2...) I wonder how they would remake the battery chemistry if they were to use all the latest advancements.

tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago
The second link has dimensions, and they're huge: about 1 by 1 by 0.5 meters, weighing 169 kg each. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050215412/downloads/20050215412.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050215412/downloads/20... has some more details. The "deadface load" (a term basically not seen anywhere except in these batteries) seems to be related to discharging them to a safe voltage (possibly at end of life before disposal, or generally before maintenance). "From 2017 to 2021, the nickel-hydrogen batteries were replaced by lithium-ion batteries." according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_system_of_the_International_Space_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_system_of_the_Inter...
NikkiA 3y ago
Probably the same, NASA has been making batteries out of Lithium where appropriate for 60 years, so they chose that chemistry for a reason (most likely its non-toxicity and relative safety for a crewed space station)
krallja 3y ago
This article has a photo of the pallet after its “deorbit toss” by Canadarm: https://gizmodo.com/massive-iss-cargo-pallet-reentry-earth-march-2024-1851317508 https://gizmodo.com/massive-iss-cargo-pallet-reentry-earth-m...
a3w 3y ago
Need banana for scale.
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> wonder how they would remake the battery chemistry if they were to use all the latest advancements “While the energy density is only around one third as that of a lithium battery, the distinctive virtue of the nickel–hydrogen battery is its long life: the cells handle more than 20,000 charge cycles with 85% energy efficiency and 100% faradaic efficiency” [1]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93hydrogen_battery https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93hydrogen_batt...
- tobinfricke 3y ago
  "It differs from a nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) battery by the use of hydrogen in gaseous form, stored in a pressurized cell at up to 1200 psi (82.7 bar) pressure." whoah
  - taskforcegemini 3y ago
    that's not that much. Hydrogen tanks in cars like the Toyota Mirai for instance, stores it at 10000 psi.
    - techwiz137 3y ago
      That's nuts. 10k PSI. My car has a a CNG tank that is at several hundred PSI and that makes me nervous when filling it up, but 10,000 PSI is way way more than this.
      - matthewdgreen 3y ago
        This is one of the reasons hydrogen cars are unlikely to achieve any widespread deployment. But the new proposal is hydrogen-carrying trucks, which is better (larger tanks and bigger scale means more and better maintenance than a typical passenger vehicle can justify) but also, it means extremely high pressure hydrogen tanks on the road with your traffic. (Of course, it may not happen. Trucking hydrogen around is pretty inefficient and stupid: hopefully it will prove cheaper to pipe electrons around and generate hydrogen on site for whatever industrial process requires it.)

tgsovlerkhgsel 3y ago

The second link has dimensions, and they're huge: about 1 by 1 by 0.5 meters, weighing 169 kg each. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050215412/downloads/20050215412.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20050215412/downloads/20... has some more details. The "deadface load" (a term basically not seen anywhere except in these batteries) seems to be related to discharging them to a safe voltage (possibly at end of life before disposal, or generally before maintenance). "From 2017 to 2021, the nickel-hydrogen batteries were replaced by lithium-ion batteries." according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_system_of_the_International_Space_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_system_of_the_Inter...

NikkiA 3y ago

Probably the same, NASA has been making batteries out of Lithium where appropriate for 60 years, so they chose that chemistry for a reason (most likely its non-toxicity and relative safety for a crewed space station)

krallja 3y ago

This article has a photo of the pallet after its “deorbit toss” by Canadarm: https://gizmodo.com/massive-iss-cargo-pallet-reentry-earth-march-2024-1851317508 https://gizmodo.com/massive-iss-cargo-pallet-reentry-earth-m...

a3w 3y ago

Need banana for scale.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> wonder how they would remake the battery chemistry if they were to use all the latest advancements “While the energy density is only around one third as that of a lithium battery, the distinctive virtue of the nickel–hydrogen battery is its long life: the cells handle more than 20,000 charge cycles with 85% energy efficiency and 100% faradaic efficiency” [1]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93hydrogen_battery https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel%E2%80%93hydrogen_batt...

tobinfricke 3y ago
"It differs from a nickel–metal hydride (NiMH) battery by the use of hydrogen in gaseous form, stored in a pressurized cell at up to 1200 psi (82.7 bar) pressure." whoah
- taskforcegemini 3y ago
  that's not that much. Hydrogen tanks in cars like the Toyota Mirai for instance, stores it at 10000 psi.
  - techwiz137 3y ago
    That's nuts. 10k PSI. My car has a a CNG tank that is at several hundred PSI and that makes me nervous when filling it up, but 10,000 PSI is way way more than this.
    - matthewdgreen 3y ago
      This is one of the reasons hydrogen cars are unlikely to achieve any widespread deployment. But the new proposal is hydrogen-carrying trucks, which is better (larger tanks and bigger scale means more and better maintenance than a typical passenger vehicle can justify) but also, it means extremely high pressure hydrogen tanks on the road with your traffic. (Of course, it may not happen. Trucking hydrogen around is pretty inefficient and stupid: hopefully it will prove cheaper to pipe electrons around and generate hydrogen on site for whatever industrial process requires it.)