NASA has chosen lithium ion battery company Boston-Power Inc. to supply battery systems for a proposed project to land a humanoid robot on the moon, the company announced.
The Westborough, Mass.-based company said it would deliver a 2.5-kilowatt energy storage system, along with an integrated battery management system. The batteries would provide power for the robot, known as Robonaut 2 or R2, according to Boston-Power. The proposed project, dubbed Project M, seeks to land the robot on the moon in 1,000 days.
R2 was developed jointly by NASA and General Motors and could support astronauts working in dangerous environments and on repetitive tasks. The robot is capable of performing a wide range of human skills and motions, and is the second generation of humanoid robots created for space travel.
As part of the initiative, Boston-Power and NASA have reached an agreement to develop an advanced, environmentally sustainable lithium ion battery pack capable of being mass-produced for NASA performance and proof-of-concept testing activities, according to Boston-Power.
The packs will be tested at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston for possible integration into an advanced space vehicle as part of the Lunar Lander project, Boston-Power said.
The company’s batteries are currently being used in some Hewlett-Packard laptops, while ASUS has announced it would use Boston-Power batteries as the standard battery packs in a new line of notebook PCs, the ASUS B Series
In transportation, Boston-Power has deals to supply batteries to several electric vehicle projects, including the ZE Saab 9-3, Saab’s planned all-electric vehicle, according to Christina Lampe-Onnerud, founder and CEO of the company.
Boston-Power recently disclosed in a regulatory filing that it had added $6.4 million to its previously announced Series E round of $60 million.
Read more: Boston-Power heads to the moon - Boston Business Journal
