Gemini mission

Fuel cells have the longest record of application in space exploration. Since the Gemini missions of NASA, fuel cells have been an indispensable technology in matmed space travel. The fuel cell systems used in the NASA space shuttles are based on alkaline fuel cells from UTC. Each orbiter has three systems of 7kWe each, which produce all electric power on board and provide potable water. These systems are hydrogen and oxygen fueled. 

Fuel cells have been reliably providing electricity to spacecraft since the 1960s, including the Gemini and Apollo missions as well as the space shuttle. The leading manufacturer of fuel cells for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa), United Technologies Corporation, has sold commercial units for stationary power since the early 1990s, with more than 200 units in service. 

Advances in fuel cells were later accelerated by space and defense programs. Fuel cells found initial practical application with the Gemini (1962-1966) and the Apollo (1968-1972) spacecraft missions, and are still used to provide water and electricity for the Space Shuttle. The upgrade in fuel cell performance over the last four decades has been based on the development of new proton-conducting polymers, like Nafion and Gore-tex , ceramics and catalysts, as well as on greater insights into... 

General Electric fuel cells with ion-exchange membranes were first used on the Gemini orbital flights. The Apollo lunar missions used fuel cells... 

Project Gemini launched a capsule for two astronauts. Gemini s ten flights provided experiences with space walks, docking, weightless conditions, and spacecraft recovery that made the Apollo missions to the moon possible. 

The first successful applications of fuel cells were made in the US space missions Gemini in 1963 (PEFC) and Apollo in 1969 (7 kW AFC with a life time of more than 7000 h). Due to this experience, the most advanced AFC, however, not commercially viable, are found in space and military applications (satellites) with requirements of 65 % efficiency for 10,000 hours. The Space Shuttle employs three stacks with 12.5 kW each. Nevertheless, the AFC has recently lost its important role in the context of terrestrial development [29]. 

The polymer membrane made of poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA) (Fig. 2) was used in the first PEMFC power plant built by General Electric in the midsixties for the Gemini space mission. The lifetime of these PMFCs was limited due to the degradation of the PSSA membrane under the impact of hydrogen peroxide radicals. 

Exploring the moon a site devoted to the U Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions... 

It is well known today that perhaps the most dramatic application of the fuel cell—an electrochemical device that may be based in the future upon the oxidation of aliphatic hydrocarbons— was in the Gemini Space Mission. In this application, the cell was based upon the use of a solid polymer electrolyte —a cation-exchange membrane in its acid form—but with hydrogen and oxygen as the fuels rather than an aliphatic hydrocarbon. Considerable research and development preceded and supported these successful missions and the units demonstrated that indeed the H2/O2 fuel cell was capable of extended performance at relatively high current densities—2l capability of fundamental importance in commercial applications. 

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) asked PUlsbury Company food scientists to help them develop preserved foods that would not produce crumbs. Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo program crews consumed foods contained in tubes. NASA arranged for Oregon Freeze Dry to use its freeze-drying technology to preserve more elaborate meals for astronauts to eat during later Apollo and space shuttle missions. 

Figure 1.2. Gemini space mission used fuel cells. (Image courtesy of NASA.) Ballard Breakthrough—1980-2000...

The very early membranes, fabricated by Gmbb and Niedrach of GE, were phenol-formaldehyde sulfonic acids produced by flic condensation of phenolsulfonic acid and formaldehyde. Unfortunately, they hydrolyzed easily and were extremely weak. These were followed by membranes wifli a partially sulfonated polystyrene backbone. Their performance was also unsatisfactory, achieving a lifetime of only 200 hours at 60 °C. The first membranes to have sufficient physical strength were D membranes, manufactured by American Machine Foundry. They were fabricated by grafting styrene-divinylbenzene into a fluorocarbon matrix, followed by sulfonation. D membranes achieved life spans of 500 hours at 60 °C and were utilized in the fuel cells as auxiliary power sources for seven Gemini space missions [14]. 

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