On Friday, ISRO announced that a fuel cell had been successfully put through a flight test to evaluate its performance in orbit and gather data to help with system design for future missions.
According to the National Space Agency located here, these fuel cells are the way of the future for power generation in space habitats, efficiently powering missions and emitting only water.
A 100 W class Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell based Power System (FCPS) was successfully tested by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre/ISRO in its orbital platform POEM3, which was launched aboard PSLV-C58 on January 1.
In a statement, ISRO said, “The experiment’s goals were to evaluate Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel cell operation in space and to gather data to facilitate the design of systems for future missions.”
180 W of electricity was produced during the brief test aboard POEM using hydrogen and oxygen gasses that were kept in high pressure tanks on board.
As to the space agency, “it furnished an abundance of information regarding the functionality of multiple static and dynamic components that comprised the power system and the underlying physics.”
Hydrogen and oxygen gasses, combined with clean water and heat, are immediately converted into energy using hydrogen fuel cells. It was said that this electric generator operates on electrochemical principles, similar to those found in batteries, as opposed to the combustion processes used in traditional generators.
It is very efficient since it can generate energy straight from fuels without the need for any intermediary steps. Their sole output is water, therefore they produce no emissions at all. According to ISRO, these characteristics make them perfect for human space missions where heat, water, and electricity are necessities since a single system can fulfill many needs.
There is also a great deal of potential for fuel cell applications throughout society. They are also seen to be the best option for powering backup power systems and replacing the engines of many different kinds of current automobiles.
They have a clear benefit over batteries in that they can provide a range and fuel recharging time comparable to that of a modern conventional engine. They are also anticipated to enable emission-free mobility.
According to ISRO, fuel cells are the best power source for the space station since they can produce both electricity and clean water.
