Direct Kinetic Solutions Inc — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: S13

Description

Direct Kinetic Solutions (DKS) proposes thenbsp;development ofnbsp;a modular radioisotopic power source (RPS) to enhance the current state of the art offering, which is a combination of chemical batteriesnbsp;and solar arraysnbsp;in the small satellite market. These power sources contain and energy density that is orders of magnitude superior to the one offered by commercially available chemical batteries. The difference between these power sources and traditionally used RTGsnbsp;is that our devices convert the energy directly when using beta emitting isotope, and leverage a phosphor when using alpha emitting ones, The RPS are compact (the cell can be as little as .5cm x .5cm), lightweight, and will fit into the side panel on the structure of a CubeSat. We expect the RPS devices can be used to power critical systems independently, or can be connected in multiples to become a significant power source for the main electric power system nbsp;of the spacecraft. We believe that they can be used in othernbsp;applications such as lunar expiration as they can generate powernbsp;in extremely low temperatures, or be used asnbsp;power alternatives for complex systems in deep space exploration.nbsp;