Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications has won a contract from Boeing NASA Systems, Houston, Texas, to build 40 replacement batteries for the U.S. photovoltaic, or power-producing, module of the International Space Station (ISS). These replacement units will be used as spares or to replace older ISS batteries currently on orbit.
“SS/L has been a key contractor to Boeing for a variety of ISS related projects over the past two decades, and we are very pleased to be continuing that work at this critical time in the development of the International Space Station,” said C. Patrick DeWitt, president of Space Systems/Loral.
The seven-year contract with Boeing NASA Systems calls for the delivery of 40 battery Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs), in addition to the 21 ISS battery ORUs that SS/L is currently on contract to deliver to Boeing over the next two years.
SS/L’s advanced nickel-hydrogen batteries are used to store electrical energy for use during the 16 solar eclipse periods that the ISS encounters during its daily orbits around the earth.
Since 1994, SS/L has manufactured more than 50 batteries for the final on-orbit configuration of the Space Station. SS/L’s first batteries were carried to the Space Station on November 30, 2000, aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
