Combustion batteries: the best partner for short-term space travel

With the sun shining and trees shading, you can take a short trip on the weekend and taste delicious food, which is fascinating. So how does a spacecraft replenish energy during a short trip?

During the process of space exploration, the missions of spacecraft are different: some orbit around fixed planets, and their energy comes from the sun that continuously emits light and heat; some go to deep space and explore unknown areas, which requires ultra-long battery life, and the advantages of expensive isotope nuclear batteries are fully demonstrated; as for "short-term tours", spacecraft need to "weigh their wallets" and carefully calculate the costs, and combustion batteries become a rare option.

The charm of combustion batteries lies in "digging for gold", which is very cost-effective. The fuel of some combustion batteries has a unique shape, which resembles a coiled mosquito coil. It is a coil made of a mixture of combustibles (such as magnesium or silicon) and oxides (such as potassium oxide). In addition, the filling gas near the fuel is argon, which is an inert gas. It can act as a protective gas at extremely high temperatures to extend the service life of the fuel. Since magnesium, silicon, etc. are widely present on the earth, the oxides used are also extremely common, and the industrial preparation cost of argon is relatively low. The production, storage and use are relatively safe and convenient, which together make the combustion battery "cheap".

In the near future, humans will explore Mars, Venus, Mercury, etc. more frequently, and it will be convenient to use robots to obtain local materials, prepare argon gas, and conveniently resupply the probes.

The important advantage of combustion batteries is that they work efficiently and stably. To improve efficiency, the shell of combustion batteries is usually made of magnesium silicate, which has very good thermal insulation properties, to maintain a suitable working temperature. As the mosquito coil slowly burns, it heats the surrounding argon gas, causing it to expand and push the piston in the piston generator to generate electricity. The hot argon gas will go further to the bottom of the battery, and after being cooled, it will return to the top of the battery, expand again due to heat, and push the piston to generate electricity... This cycle continues. Based on this stable operation similar to the motorcycle piston style, the combustion battery is expected to convert about 40% of the heat energy into electricity.

Generally speaking, a combustion battery can allow a probe to work continuously for 20 days, and can work stably in temperatures as low as tens of degrees below zero or as high as 465 degrees Celsius, and can also be "full of energy" in a dark environment. With the help of a combustion battery, the probe can dive deep into the ice layer of an alien planet and operate on the hot surface of Venus.

On the whole, compared with expensive isotope nuclear batteries, whose fuel depletes after each use, combustion batteries are extremely "people-friendly", safer and more stable, and can be called the "best partner" for short-term space exploration missions.