Publication Date:
2011-08-18
Description:
A performance assessment is made for the Viking Mars Lander Program's sealed, sterilizable, 8-ampere hour Ni-Cd batteries, which use a nonwoven polypropylene separator material. Attention is given to separator wettability, the optimization of electrolyte quantity, and the reduction of plate carbonate, in view of thermal considerations and other environmental design and test requirements generated by mission characteristics. Life data based on mission experience identify, in addition to performance and degradation behavior, a series of shallow discharge reconditioning cycles and an intensive program of deep discharge reconditioning.
Keywords:
SPACECRAFT PROPULSION AND POWER
Type:
Journal of Power Sources (ISSN 0378-7753); 12; 305-316
Format:
text
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