Saft Batteries Power Calipso LEO Satellite

With the successful launching of the Franco-American satellite mission, Calipso, Saft became the first supplier of rechargeable Li-ion batteries installed on board a mini-satellite Low Earth Orbit (LEO ). Calipso’s polar orbit is an extremely demanding application for the on-board batteries for they will be charged and discharged over a constantly repeating 100-minute cycle, with no rest periods, throughout a three-year mission.

“Calipso is enabling us to demonstrate the critical advantages of Li-ion technology for the new generation of mini-LEO satellite platforms,” said John Searle, Saft CEO. “Calipso is just the start, as Alcatel Alenia Space’s next four Proteus platforms, to be launched between now and 2008, will also be powered by Saft Li-ion batteries.”

The Calipso (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) mission is a cooperative project involving NASA, France’s CNES and the Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace. The satellites will answer questions about how clouds and aerosols form, evolve and affect water supply, climate, weather and air quality.