Overview and preliminary in orbit behaviour of the first Lithium-ion batteries used onboardEutelsat W3A GEO telecommunications satellite mission

摘要

The Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery has been assessedseveral years ago by EADS-ASTRIUM as a verypromising technology in terms of technical, industrialand cost aspects for Eurostar 3000 (E3000) platformdedicated to telecommunication satellite for payloadpower from 5 up to 18 kW. On March 16, 2004, aProton Launcher placed successfully into orbit theW3A spacecraft for Eutelsat (first EADS ASTRIUMsatellite with Eurostar E3000 platform equipped withLi-ion batteries with SAFT industrial Li-ion cells. Thisrepresents the first Large Li-ion battery on board atelecommunication satellite and was the achievementof the work, initiated with the support of ESA andCNES in 1996 with Stentor program. Today, 4 Li-ionbatteries are in orbit on two E3000 satellites. The papergives a short description of the cells, of the batterydesign and development. Description of batterymanagement during system test and pre-launch phasesis also presented as well as preliminary batterybehaviour since time of launch.