Energy and provision management study: A research activity on fuel cell design and breadboarding for lunar surface applications supported by European Space Agency

This paper addresses the findings of the European Space Agency (ESA) study (Energy and Provision Management Study), performed by an Italian consortium, aimed at designing and breadboarding of an Energy Provision and Management system (EPM), based on Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC) technology. The EPM has been developed for supporting space exploration applications, specifically for lunar surface missions. The fuel cell technology has been selected through a trade-off activity, and the power requirements of a Lunar Base (LB) power plant and a Pressurized Lunar Rover (PLR) have been identified. A synergetic design of EPM has been proposed for both the LB and the PLR. Finally three technological demonstrators have been designed, manufactured and tested: i) a 1 kW PEFC stack, ii) a stand-alone power system based on the developed stack, iii) a regenerative power system based on the stand-alone stack connected with a commercial electrolyser. The tests carried out on breadboards, have demonstrated the ability of fuel cell power systems to meet the requirements of future space missions.