NASA Energy Storage Contest

[seigell]

NASA Needs Your Ideas for Energy Storage on the Moon



OK, start the Ideas Flowing...

[seigell]

And, yes, someone awkwardly blended two lunar images (not me).

[Star Dad]

Carbon fiber batteries! They are the future. No more chemicals. Can take and discharge power as fast as you need. I've been waiting about 5 years to find out if someone is going to finally commercialize them. They will revolutionize electrical storage end our total dependence on centralized power grids (at least for home use).

[seigell]

Everyone is able to see that both Text Elements are Links to the Story, right?? The Image was originally an Embedded Video (but the forum software wasn't parsing it successfully).

[seigell]

There are essentially 5 interlinked problems to solve:

1. Energy Generation - how to produce Power (10kW @120V per the Contest) that is Safe and Stable and Available at the Lunar Surface
2. Energy Storage - how to store the Energy such that it is available when needed most - Lunar Nighttime
3. Heat Regulation - most of our current generation tech expects the Waste Heat to be Dumped into the Environment (different/difficult to do without an atmosphere)
4. Location / Environmental - Most Earth-bound Generation Technology is currently Optimized for an Earth-Surface Environment (Temperature Range, Radiation Shielded by Atmosphere, etc)
5. Construction / Delivery - our Lifting Capacity from Earth Surface is quite Limited and very Expensive for the Quantity of Materials required for most any Current At-Scale Power Generating Technology

Carbon fiber batteries! They are the future. No more chemicals. Can take and discharge power as fast as you need. I've been waiting about 5 years to find out if someone is going to finally commercialize them. They will revolutionize electrical storage end our total dependence on centralized power grids (at least for home use).

OK, that might address the Energy Storage element, but what of the rest of the System??