Will Double International Space Station’s Ability to Power Itself During Solar Eclipse
EaglePicher Technologies, LLC today announced that the Space Shuttle Atlantis which successfully lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday is carrying EaglePicher battery cells to a rendezvous with the Space Station.
During the STS-115 flight mission, Atlantis Commander Brent Jeff and his five crewmates will deliver and fit the P3/P4 truss, a 17-ton segment of the station’s “backbone” that includes a huge set of solar arrays, new batteries and a giant rotary joint to allow the arrays to track the Sun. The solar arrays will span more than 240 feet when fully extended and they will gather the Sun’s energy and store it in EaglePicher battery cells for use when the space station is blocked from the Sun by the Earth.
The nickel-hydrogen batteries are part of a package that includes two Sequential Shunt Units, six Battery Charge/Discharge Units and 12 Battery Orbital Replacement Units. The battery cells will double the station’s ability to power itself during solar eclipse. The power is needed for science laboratories, living chamber and other systems onboard the International Space Station.
“This is the second of what will eventually be four power module assemblies for the Space Station,” said Darrell Ideker, EaglePicher Technologies Director of Space Products. “In this payload, there will be 12 batteries each containing 76 EaglePicher cells for a total of 912 cells.”
Atlantis took its first flight on October 3, 1985 and since then has flown 26 missions totaling over 220 days in space. With this mission, NASA is getting back to building the International Space Station. It is the first time in almost four years that the Space Station has had a component added to it.
“The astronauts have docked to the Space Station and are in the process of unloading the bus-sized package of batteries, panels and electronics,” said Ideker. “This is a very ambitious mission involving several space walks. We are excited that EaglePicher is part of it.”
EaglePicher Technologies, LLC, an EaglePicher company, is the leading producer of batteries and energetic devices for the defense, space and commercial industries, and provides the most experience and broadest capability in battery electrochemistry of any battery supplier in the United States. EaglePicher Technologies offers a wide range of battery technology including thermal, nickel-hydrogen, lithium carbonmonofluoride, lithium thionyl chloride, lithium manganese dioxide, lithium sulfur dioxide, lithium ion, reserve lithium oxyhalide, custom battery assemblies and silver zinc batteries. They also provide other energy products and pyrotechnic devices for the defense industry, as well as advanced battery chargers and other power solutions for business, industrial and recreational applications. EaglePicher Technologies is headquartered in Joplin, Mo. For more information, visit http://www.eaglepicher.com .
EaglePicher Corporation, based in Inkster, Mich., is a private equity fund with business in 9 industries: automotive, defense, space, commercial power, nuclear, semi-conductors, filtration, pharmaceuticals, and medical. Its companies include Hillsdale Automotive, LLC, Wolverine Advanced Materials, LLC, EaglePicher Boron, LLC, EaglePicher Technologies, LLC, EaglePicher Medical Batteries, LLC, EaglePicher Pharmaceutical Services, LLC, and EaglePicher Filtration & Minerals, LLC. For more information, visit http://www.eaglepicher.com .
EaglePicher(TM) is a trademark of EaglePicher Corporation.
