Exceeding Expectations: Hubble Get’s 1st Battery Replacement in 19 Years
If only every battery exceeded it’s life expectancy the way those used for the Hubble Space Telescope have. After going an astounding 19 years without requiring a battery replacement, the Hubble will finally receive a fresh new set of nickel hydrogen batteries. On Monday, May 11; NASA will be returning to one of it’s most famous and successful projects to service the telescope and replace batteries that were only expected to last 5 years. With the Hubble projected to fall out of orbit in 2013, this will obviously be the last set of batteries the iconic telescope will ever need.
The over-performing nickel hydrogen batteries used by the Hubble are supplied by EaglePicher Technologies. NASA refers to EaglePicher as it’s “most trusted suppliers since America’s early days”; using their batteries to power over 400 space missions, including other well known projects such as the Apollo and the International Space Station. EaglePicher’s outstanding product has resulted in millions of dollars saved by NASA as the number of previously anticipated service missions has been greatly reduced. In all, EaglePicher’s nickel hydrogen batteries have logged more than 1.3 billion hours in space without a single mission failure.
Category: Battery News
[...] safe to say NASA isn’t using standard AA batteries to power the international space [...]