By 
February 10th, 2024
Image credit: S.D.Katz/Infinity Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Inc.
The Moon calls!
But setting up a future lunar outpost to sustain long-term crews there is an energy-hungry undertaking.
One eye-catching concept is regenerative fuel cell energy systems, the ability, for one, to energize a Moon base through the 14-earthday-long and super-cold lunar night.
Infinity Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Inc. of Windsor, Connecticut began work with NASA in 2020 to develop the fuel cell component for a Moon-situated system.
Payload carrying New Shepard (NS-24) capsule nears touchdown.
Image credit: Blue Origin
Suborbital trial run
Power and energy for extreme operating environments, like space and underwater – require rugged, compact and gravity-independent solutions, the company’s website explains. “Why do we operate in extreme environments first? If you can do it there, you can do it anywhere.”
The company recently took part in Blue Origin’s New Shepard (NS-24) West Texas launch under a NASA-sponsored Tipping Point program. That suborbital, uncrewed flight on December 19 carried 33 payloads from NASA, academia, research institutions, and commercial companies.
Initial indications, according to Infinity, are that “the system generated required power throughout the entire flight as designed, even operating in three minutes of microgravity.”
Artemis explorers at the Moon.
Image credit: NASA
Scalable modular system
Flown onboard New Shepard was Infinity’s NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate-funded, Advanced Modular Power and Energy System (AMPES) Tipping Point fuel cell experiment.
Earlier, on September 12, 2022, AMPES operated on Blue Origin’s NS-23 suborbital launch, despite an anomaly that cut that mission short.
“The AMPES system is a scalable modular system that employs Infinity’s patented non-flow through, air-independent fuel cell technology,” a company statement explains. “The technology could be used to power landers, rovers, surface equipment and habitats on the Moon or Mars.”
To view a video design by S.D.Katz showing a conception — not an actual NASA design — of a future Moon base being powered by a combination of solar power and hydrogen fuel cell power, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rijXZNGQg6Y
For more information on Infinity Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Inc., go to:
Posted in Space News
