Estonian startup to develop closed cathode hydrogen fuel cells for Mars and Moon missions
Estonian cleantech startup PowerUP Energy Technologies will develop a 1kW liquid-cooled closed cathode hydrogen fuel cell stack for Lunar and Mars exploration missions. It has signed a new contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the effort. The company stated that the hydrogen fuel cell would be used on Lunar cargo ships (Lunar nights survival) and potentially also on rovers. Normally fuel cells are open cathodes. However, due to the lack of oxygen on the Moon and Mars, closed cathode fuel cells are used. Robotic rovers are then usually remotely controlled and carry a payload of scientific instruments aimed at performing experimental investigation over a distributed area of the surface of the astronomical object. The last decade has seen a number of research and development initiatives on regenerative PEM fuel cell systems for space applications. “Usually fuel cells are open cathode. This means that they take oxygen from the surrounding air, but in the case of Mars and Moon
