NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida has announced a new partnership with
Cella Energy Inc. that could result in vehicles being powered by
hydrogen, which is cleaner and produces no greenhouse gases.
This
new approach to hydrogen will be the focus of research, development and
possible production during the five-year Space Act Agreement (SAA)
between Kennedy and Cella. The company has formulated a way to store
hydrogen safely in tiny pellets that still allow the fuel to be burned
in an engine. Because of its rocket work, Kennedy has the infrastructure
and experience necessary to handle hydrogen safely.
“We
have a lot of great capabilities at Kennedy and some exceptional talent
in both our materials and cryogenics labs, and I think that’s what
mostly attracted them to us,” said Robert Hubbard, Business Development
manager at Kennedy.
Cella
hopes to make its micro-bead technology practical enough to be used as a
fuel in most kinds of machinery, cars, and perhaps even spacesuits and
portable electronics. The eventual goal is to use it in fuel-cell
engines, which combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity and
produce water as the only exhaust product. Kennedy has worked with
fuel-cell technology in Apollo spacecraft and space shuttles.
The
company already has offices in the Space Life Sciences Laboratory at
Kennedy and is expected to become an early tenant at Exploration Park, a
research center now under construction at the space center.
“We’re
trying to expand Kennedy’s portfolio of capabilities,” Hubbard said.
“We want to be on the cutting edge of developing green energy
technologies and what better place to do it than Kennedy’s Exploration
Park.”
Under
the agreement, Kennedy will serve as a consultant to Cella for
developing an integrated solution for hydrogen storage and help Cella
incorporate Kennedy-developed hydrogen sensing color-changing polymers.
Cella also is interested in working with lightweight aerofoam and
aeroplastic, another NASA innovation, notable for their
thermal-insulating properties.
Source: NASA Kennedy Space Center
