The Space Company Astrobotic, based in Pittsburgh and the North American subsidiary of Honda, are working on the integration of the vertical solar American technology of Astrobotic with the regenerative fuel cell system of Honda to develop a power and storage solution that is able to support long-term exploration.
American Honda Motor Co., Inc. and Astrobotic Technology, Inc. have concluded a joint development agreement to develop an integrated power solution for lunar surface missions.
The two companies will carry out a joint feasibility study that investigates how astrobotic’s vertical solar -Array technology (VSAT) and Lunagrid -service can be linked to Honda’s RFC system (RFC) to offer continuous power for moon survey, even during periods of darkness on the moon.
Astrobotic’s Lunagrid is a power infrastructure service that is designed to offer persistent moon surface. It has the solar energy-driven astrobotic VSAT, a self-leveling system that is able to follow sun. The company develops both a VSAT system of 10 kW and an extra large vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT-XL) that can generate 50 kW.
The study will combine the technology of Astrobotic with the Honda RFC system, which offers oxygen, hydrogen and electricity with the help of solar energy and water. The energy storage system stores solar energy as hydrogen during Monday and converts it into electricity during the moon evening. The only by -product of the fuel cell after generating electricity is water, which is recycled in the system of the system in the system to create an energy cycle of closed loop.
As part of the feasibility study, the two companies simulate annual solar direction profiles at different lunar pool locations with both the astrobotic 10 kW and 50 kW VSAT systems.
The results will help determine how much sunlight the vsat sun panels on the moon surface receive to provide the water electrolysis during the day, so that the RFC system can convert the stored hydrogen into electricity all night. These findings will be used by Honda to help increase the regenerative fuel cell system, so that it meets the energy storage needs of various Lunar missions scenarios.
The study will also evaluate the scalability of the Honda RFC system for the use of Lunagrid and the integration of hardware and software with the Honda RFC and Astrobotic VSAT to define RFC system requirements required for reliable effect.
According to a statement from Honda, the integration of the technologies could considerably expand the availability of current, which extends the mission possibilities, a persistent human presence on the Moon, the development of the moon surface infrastructure development and power of the power of the future commercial industries.
Bobby Rolley, the architect of Astrobotic’s Lunar Power Systems, said that the Lunagrid of the company can extend mission time from days to years, in turn stimulating the mission performance and data return per dollar invested. “Our collaboration with Honda is an important step in this vision, because their scalable energy storage technology will improve both Lunagrid and our VSAT, which extends our overall power generation and storage options,” Rolley added.
In April, the American defense and space manufacturer Lockheed Martin announced that it was Development of VSAT For the bet on the moon.
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