NASA is looking for an alternative to battery power for its spacecraft

NASA knows that conventional battery power won't cut it at a certain point, especially when the agency's vehicles travel into deep space. To that end, it's asking both public institutions and companies to submit proposals for battery alternatives. The initiative will tackle both low-level energy cell design, such as chemistry and packaging, as well as advanced devices that could outperform existing lithium cells. Ideally, NASA will get energy storage that provides more power without taking a hit to either longevity or safety.

[Image credit: NASA]

It's too soon to say when the organization will choose winners, but it will hand out cash awards to the four most promising candidates from the first phase of its selection process. There's no guarantee that NASA will find the improved power source that it's looking for. If successful, though, the effort could make deep space exploration a far less daunting prospect.

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Diablotek 8800mAh Portable USB Battery

[This is out of stock on Amazon. I can't find another source for this particular battery. If you know where to get them, please post in the comments. -- Mark]
I’ve been a road warrior for years now, and have gone through over a dozen different Portable USB batteries – they have all either broken (Looking at you, fancy LiPoly chargers!), I’ve lost them, or I outgrew their capacity.
Capacity is the name of the game with this little device! While it is heavy, weighing in at 247 grams (Slightly over a half pound), it packs in every feature that a road warrior would need:
* 8800mAH capacity
* 2 standard USB ports, one outputting at 5V-2A
* Charges via a standard micro-USB cable
* Simple On/Off
* A ring of LEDs around the power button show capacity remaining (Both charging and discharging)
* Comes with a handful of different adapters, though they aren’t needed
I picked it up at a local Microcenter for less than $20, thinking it would be trash — but it’s survived dozens of drops, hundreds of charge/discharge cycles, water, mud and more than enough to have me come to depend on this little guy!
The best part is the 5V – 2Amp output – this allows most devices to enter a fast charge state, which is noticeably quicker than with a standard socket.
On a recent 6-hour flight, I kept both my Android phone and my power hungry Nexus 7 plugged into it. I played games, listened to music, or watched movies the entire time on the Nexus and when we landed both devices were at 100% AND the little USB battery was still at 75%.
In fact, I have yet to drain it beyond 50%, and that includes a 12-hour day of Geocaching with my phone’s GPS on and the screen fully awake.
It also holds a charge for a long long time — I’ve left it alone for 6 months, only to come back and see it’s still at almost a full charge.
If I had an gripe with it at all, it’s that it lacks an attachment point, which is corrected with some epoxy and a trip to the hardware store.

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