NASA Gemini Spacecraft

The early versions of the PEMFC, as used in the NASA Gemini spacecraft, had a lifetime of only about 500 h, but that was sufficient for those limited early missions. The development program continued with the incorporation of a new polymer membrane in 1967 called Naflon, a registered trademark of Dupont. This type of membrane, outlined in Section 4.2, became standard for the PEMFC, as it still is today. 

These cells are also known as solid polymer fuel cells (SPFC) (Fig. 1.9). These fuel cells were used in NASA Gemini Spacecraft (manned space vehicles) and were developed in 1960 by General Electric (USA). The following key features of PEMFC make them very popular ... 

First models of hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells with an ion-exchange membrane as the electrolyte were built and used in NASA s Gemini spacecraft. After a very long break, this development was taken up and led to the modem PEMFCs described in Chapter 3. 

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. 

Figure 2.7 PEMFC in the Gemini 7 spacecraft, 1965. (From Smithsonian Institution, neg. EMP059020, from the Science Service Historical Images Collection, courtesy of NASA.)...

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