QinetiQ Consortium Powers Foton-M3 Mission

The battery supplied by the U.K.’s QinetiQ-led team was the sole power source during the re-entry, landing and recovery phases of a recent Foton-M3 mission. It ensured the integrity of the experiments while the recoverable capsule re-entered the atmosphere and landed near the Russian-Kazakh border on September 26. The Russian unmanned spacecraft carried a payload of more than 40 European Space Agency (ESA) experiments.

The battery consisted of two identical modules of 27 lithium sulphuryl chloride cells with sufficient stored energy to power the payloads for more than 12 hours. The stored energy ensured the successful retrieval of biological samples at the landing site by the ESA team and of the other experiments once they had been flown by helicopter to the Soyuz factory in the Russian city of Samara.

QinetiQ and ABSL developed the 5.4kWh battery over 18 months. The two battery modules have a capacity of 90Ah each, an energy density in excess of 300Wh/kg and a voltage at beginning of discharge of 35V.

QinetiQ was responsible for the overall management of the program, including the selection of the battery chemistry and cell size to ensure the battery survived the rigors of re-entry and landing when Foton-M3 experienced extremely high temperatures and g-force as high as 40g. ABSL conducted the majority of the physical assessment of the cells as well as battery pack design, assembly and qualification.