Chemical batteries used currently on the space station need to be replaced about every five years. Engineers at the Center for Electromechanics are conducting research that could lead to replacing the chemical batteries with flywheel batteries, which continuously store and release energy. I am proud that The University of Texas at Austin is in the forefront of this effort. A flywheel battery has a greater capacity and could last as long as the space station itself. The chemical batteries on ISS weigh nearly 300 pounds and fit in a box about 12 cubic feet in size.
Flywheel batteries are cleaner and more economical than chemical models.
The proposed flywheel for the space station is about 1.5 feet in diameter and nearly three feet long. Made of a composite material, flywheel batteries are mounted on a titanium shaft and they levitate on magnetic bearings. They store the energy from solar cells by spinning faster and when they slow the energy is discharged. The UT Austin program is funded by the NASA Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston and managed by the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. UT Austin engineers hope to complete the project by the time the current space station batteries need to be replaced five years from now.