ESA Open Invitation to Tender: 1-10884
Open Date: 26/07/2021 17:09 CEST
Closing Date: 20/09/2021 13:00 CEST

Conventional Lithium Ion batteries face major limitations with charging below 0 degree C. For space applications, the current solution for charging the battery is the use of external power and heaters to bring the cell to relatively high temperatures since there is no electrochemical system that can efficiently charge at low temperature. However, the use of external heaters decreases system efficiency and robustness while increasing its complexity and weight.Besides, space exploration missions have battery requirements and performance targets for low temperature operations that cannot be fulfilled by current qualified space cells.Based on scientificdata it is expected that a modification of the Lithium Ion cell electrochemical system – including the battery cell active materials and electrolyte – can significantly improve the battery cell performance at low temperature.Space requirements, especially for material selection, performance and safety testing will be taken into account in the early stages of the development of a technology that will evolve from an already space qualified low temperature Lithium-Ion battery cell.Specific low temperature and charge and discharge rates requirements and target performance for exploration missions shall be considered for the technology development. As a reference, the minimum requested operational temperature to be considered in charge is -20 deg C, with a target at -30 deg C.The activity encompasses the following tasks:- Literature review on materials and processes,- Comparison of specification of the state of the art space qualified cells for low temperature operation and justification for new electrochemical system selection,- Cell development including selected electrochemical system for extended low temperature operation,- Experimental comparison of the developed electrochemical system with existing space qualified cells for low temperature,- Performance characterisation and safety testing of the cell developed addressing exploration requirements and performance targets.The deliverables will comprise 10 Li-ion cells with improved low temperature range performance.

Directorate: Directorate of Tech, Eng. Quality
Estabilishment: ESTEC
ECOS Required: No
Classified: No
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Authorised Contact Person: Franziska Isabella Erkelens-Sickinger
Initiating Service: TEC-EPB
IP Measure: N/A
Prog. Reference: E/0901-01 – Technology Developme
Tender Type: Open Competition
Open To Tenderers From: AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+EL+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE
Technology Keywords: 3-C-I-Electro-Chemical Technologies for Energy Storage
Products Keywords: 2-J-7-Storage: Batteries