South Korean battery maker LG Chem will start supplying lithium-ion batteries for NASA's spacesuits in the second half of this year. The deal with NASA makes LG Chem the first Korean company to set foot in the aerospace industry.
LG Chem has recently said that it will deliver its newly-developed lithium-ion batteries for NASA's spacesuits used for space exploration
An LG Chem official said: “The batteries will power cutting-edge devices built into the spacesuits, such as life support equipment, communications equipment and radiation detectors for the survival of astronauts.”
LG Chem said its new lithium-ion battery is cheaper and its lifespan is five times longer than silver-zinc batteries that are widely used in the military and aerospace industries.
NASA had felt the need to switch to lithium-ion batteries because silver-zinc batteries are expensive and have a short lifespan. Thus, NASA carried out safety tests on sample batteries manufactured by major battery makers, according to LG Chem.
Another official said: “The safety of LG Chem batteries has been proven through NASA's internal short-circuit (ISC) stability test. In NASA's ISC stability test, LG Chem batteries came out on top among other candidate batteries from S. Korea and Japan.”
