Performance Characteristics of Lithium-Ion Cells for Mars Sample Return Athena Rover 1999-01-2639
In contrast to the primary batteries (lithium thionyl chloride) on the Sojourner Mars Rover and the upcoming 2001 Mars Rover, the Mars Sample Return (MSR) Athena Rover will utilize rechargeable lithium ion batteries, following the footsteps of MSP 2001 Lander. The MSR Athena Rover will contain a rechargeable lithium ion battery of 16 V and a total energy of 150 Wh. The mass and volume of the projected power system will be a maximum of 3 kg and 2 liters, respectively. Each battery consists of twelve cells (6-7 Ah), combined in three parallel strings of four cells (16 V) each, such that the capability of the Rover shall be maintained even in the event of one string failure. In addition to usual requirements of high specific energy and energy density and long cycle life (100 cycles), the battery is required to operate at wide range of temperatures, especially at sub-zero temperatures down to -20°C. In this paper, we report various performance characterization tests carried out on lithium ion cells, fabricated by different manufacturers under NASA/DoD lithium ion battery consortium.
Citation: Ratnakumar, B., Smart, M., Ewell, R., Surampudi, S. et al., "Performance Characteristics of Lithium-Ion Cells for Mars Sample Return Athena Rover," SAE Technical Paper 1999-01-2639, 1999, https://doi.org/10.4271/1999-01-2639. Download Citation
Author(s):
B. V. Ratnakumar, M. C. Smart, R. Ewell, S. Surampudi, R. Marsh
Affiliated:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Pages: 7
Event:
34th Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Related Topics:
Lithium-ion batteries
Batteries
SAE MOBILUS
Subscribers can view annotate, and download all of SAE's content.
Learn More »