New Mars Forums

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,383

Re: Autonomous Passenger Carrying Electric Aircraft

For Calliban re #50

Your closing question is a good fit for another topic.

Since this topic is about ** electric ** aircraft, I am wondering if you took a look at the specific vehicle reported in Post #49.

It is possible you might be able to think of a way to power that specific vehicle with natural gas, but I doubt it.

Hydrogen, on the other hand, could work nicely with fuel cells, to deliver the sustained current flow required.

On the third hand, a way to store hydrogen in the quantity needed at a weight that is competitive with Lithium batteries is a challenge.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Autonomous Passenger Carrying Electric Aircraft

This will have other applications not just for Nasa invents ‘incredible’ battery for electric planes

The US space agency made the breakthrough following investigations into solid-state batteries, which hold more energy and are lighter than industry-standard lithium-ion batteries.

Solid-state batteries also perform better in stressful environments, as they are less prone to overheating, fire and loss of charge over time, however they typically cannot discharge energy at the same rate as li-ion batteries.

Until now, this has made them unsuitable for powering large electronics, such as electric vehicles, as they require batteries capable of discharging their energy an incredibly fast rate.

This issue was solved by researchers at Nasa’s Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety (SABERS) unit, who were able to increase the battery’s discharge rate by a factor of 10 using innovative new materials that have yet to be used in batteries.