KEJORA

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cyBHl0HakPKRB2RfVJmCFpJOHjBtKwBM?usp=sharing

https://youtu.be/mlPyLNmhAkY

1)   Detail Project Description

i)                  What exactly does it do?

Current aerospace qualified battery technologies must not only adapt to the harsh environment of space, but also meet the mass and volume requirements of the target mission. As a result, the solution proposed by this project is to improve existing batteries. We propose material combination ideas and the design of new innovative batteries for energy storage systems. Because the idea was derived solely from ad hoc reading and investigation within 48 hours, some flaws occurred.

ii)               How does it work?

We propose non-aqueous Lithium metal batteries as a solution to this challenge based on our understanding and limited knowledge. As illustrated in Figure 1, the use of Li metal batteries is extremely useful for many potential applications in space exploration. Zou et al (2021) and Tan et. al (2021) shed lights that Li metal batteries are more compact than advanced Li-ion batteries with the same energy density because of their lower mass, volume, and capacity. Therefore, our proposed solution is supported by these two recent studies. According to Gao et. al (2022) such a high specific energy property can not only lower the detection cost of the transmitter, but also free up more mass and space for other necessary materials and equipment, as well as provide a longer cruising range for specific equipment. As a result, Li metal batteries have enormous potential in future space exploration. In contrast, current research and evaluation are restricted to normal gravity, with no mention of Venus (Liu et. al, 2021; Luo et al, 2021; Gao et al, 2021). The fundamental understanding of how Li metal batteries behave over a wide range of gravity, such as over 1G, is ambiguous.

Figure 1: Potential applications in space exploration using Li metal batteries.

We propose combining Li metal batteries with nanotubes to make the batteries lighter and safer. Figure 2 depicts the use of sponge-like papers made of conductive carbon nanotubes and insulative boron nitride nanotubes as a current collector and separator. As a result, the electrode/separator stack, with an active material content of 93.6% and no problems after 500 °C heating, paves the way for lighter and safer batteries. This solution is advantageous and appropriate given Venus's extremely high temperature (460 C).

Figure 2: Nanotubes - a current collector and separator

iii)            What benefits does it have?

Three major benefits result from these solutions. It makes the batteries (1) lighter, (2) safer, and (3) last longer for the energy storage system, which meets the challenge's goal. The use of non-aqueous Lithium metal batteries in conjunction with conductive carbon nanotubes and insulative boron nitride nanotubes as a current collector and separator could open up new avenues of research. Although it is not discussed scientifically, future research may offer something novel. Nanotubes can be used in batteries to create space and make them lighter. Meanwhile, Li metal batteries play critical roles in operation when used on supergravity planets such as Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune (Gao et. al, 2022).

iv)             What do you hope to achieve?

NASA is weighing two possible Venus missions that selected both DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere of Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging, Plus) and VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) as missions to explore Venus, which each will launch between 2028 and 2030 (Lemonick, 2021). The first mission proposes that DAVINCI+ would study about Venus’s atmosphere, incorporating an orbiter with ultraviolet and near-infrared spectrometers to observe chemicals in the upper atmosphere as well as a probe with a mass spectrometer and later spectrometer. Meanwhile, the second mission called VERITAS intends to carry radar to map the surface and a spectrometer to try to characterize rocks and minerals, where these observations could help explain how rocky planets evolve and why Earth and Venus ended up so different despite starting somewhat similarly.

It is hope that our ad-hoc solution, KEJORA, for this challenge may be useful or could be advanced by the group of experts in this niche area. As the abovementioned discussion, our proposed design for the energy storage system, which mainly the non-aqueous lithium metal batteries, will power a surface lander or rover on the surface of Venus for at least 60 days. We believe this proposed design will add small contribution to knowledge to help both selected missions DAVINCI+ and VERITAS to Venus. KEJORA connects to the mission through its innovative design on batteries, which is one of the most crucial issue to consider.

v)               What tools, coding languages, hardware, or software did you use to develop your project?

This project was created using Canva, Paint, Words, Google Scholars, SpaceAppsChallenge Resources, and Video Maker. Because we have limited time and manpower, this solution is still in the research and development phase, and we need to understand the fundamental knowledge before moving on to the next stage. However, we did our best to incorporate our rough idea into this proposal while meeting the submission deadline.

1)   Space Agency Data

We mainly use the open data from NASA and some Space Agency Partners. The breakdown data used in this project are as follows;

i)                  NASA

High Energy, Long Cycle Life, and Extreme Temperature Lithium-Sulfur Battery for Venus Missions

Link: https://techport.nasa.gov/view/92914

How we used it: We read, studied and referred about Lithium-sulfur batteries and how it differs from our proposed the non-aqueous lithium metal batteries.

How it inspired the project: It provided both advantages and disadvantages of the materials to develop a potential prototype battery.

ii)                NASA

High Temperature All Solid-State LiAl-CO2 Batteries for Venus Missions

Link: https://sbir.nasa.gov/SBIR/abstracts/21/sbir/phase1/SBIR-21-1-S3.03-3308.html

How we used it: We read, studied and compared about LiAl-CO2 batteries and how it differs than our proposed the non-aqueous lithium metal batteries.

How it inspired the project: It provided both advantages and disadvantages of the materials to develop a potential prototype battery.

iii)              NASA

Energy Storage Technologies for Future Planetary Science Missions

Link: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/549/energy-storage-technologies-for-future-planetary-science-missions/

How we used it: The core reference for this project. We downloaded and read about the progress of the energy storage technologies that currently use.

How it inspired the project: With limited understanding, this resource helped a lot to understand the mission to Venus.

iv)              The European Space Agency (ESA)

ESA selects revolutionary Venus mission EnVision

Link: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/ESA_selects_revolutionary_Venus_mission_EnVision

How we used it: Understanding a holistic view of the planet from its inner core to upper atmosphere to determine how and why Venus and Earth evolved so differently. It helps to understand the toxicity environment, mass, gravity, and more comprehensive volcanic surrounding.

How it inspired the project: It inspired us to investigate in detail about this planet 

v)                 The European Space Agency (ESA)

Science & Exploration, Destination: Venus

Link: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Venus_Express

How we used it: Understanding the images from Venus

How it inspired the project: It helped us to view Venus closely from near and far (based on the latest images captured).

vi)              Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Research on Space Science - Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (PLANET-C)

Link: https://global.jaxa.jp/projects/sas/planet_c/

How we used it: Studying the close up of Venus. Understanding the atmosphere of Venus by five cameras and ultra-stable oscillator.

How it inspired the project: It made us visualized the atmosphere and environment very close, so that there are issue we can encounter. 

The weakness of this project is the expertise in the field. Therefore, we relied heavily on the existing data prepared by NASA and the Space Agency Partners. It inspired us to identify and study in details within a short period of time given to roughly understand the objective, solve the challenge, and growth interest to the future mission on Venus. 

1)   Hackhaton Journey

How would you describe your Space Apps experience?

We are always strongly support the Space Apps Challenge event almost every year and add small contributions to the challenges that we have involved. There are many interesting challenges to discuss but we are always fascinating and curious about the Universe, Space and the Infinity. It always encourage and motivate us to read more, update ourselves with the new knowledge and latest discovery about Space, particularly on our specific interest such as to Explore Venus, Understanding the String Theory, Blackhole, and even the bigger mission - A Trip to the Infinity. The most memorable journey for our Space Apps Challenge experience was in 2018 where we were nominated among the Top 4 Global Nominee (Virtual Participation) for Solving On The Shoulder of Giants (Skywalker/Astropoly). The experiences had encourage and motivate us to participate more in the future. It helps stimulate our critical thinking, creativity and working under pressure in order to produce the rational and innovative solutions. 

What did you learn?

For this year participation, we decided to learnt and understand the mission to Venus and what solution can we offer to add new knowledge. The summary what we had learnt within these 48 hours are as follows;

1)     We learnt the important mission to Venus

While completing KEJORA, we learnt in detail about Venus. One of the best argument we fascinated about for Venus missions is that they will help us understand further on exoplanets. It supports by Kane et. al. (2021) that explain Venus and Earth likely looked very similar for most of their history but have radically diverged, may be in the past 715 million years, which shed lights the fundamental importance to understanding the prevalence of life in the Universe.

2)     We learnt the trajectory interest in exploring Venus over time

On the other hand, we also learnt about the trajectory mission to Venus as early as in the 1950s and 1960s, which some scientists thought that Venus was the more attractive target to explore because it is closer to the Earth than Mars and cheaper to get there. However, the prediction was revised after the USSR landers and NASA orbiters discovered a different story in the late 1980s, which they found out that the surface of Venus is more than 450 °C and its atmospheric pressure is almost 100 times that of Earth’s (Kremic et.al, 2020; Ghail and Wilson, 2015).

3)     We learnt what are needed and required for mission to Venus

We were excited right at the beginning of the hackathon yesterday when we read several missions on Venus from several space agencies around the world before decided to focus on a particular solution. At a glance, there are many interesting ideas, projects, prototypes towards mission to Venus and it creates a healthy competition to identify the most rational solutions. In regards to our project KEJORA, we learnt that energy is required to power scientific instruments, gather and process the data collected, and communicate the results back to the Earth. However, the current problem is the available batteries cannot operate in the extreme environment on the surface of Venus (SpaceAppsChallenge, 2022). Therefore, we quickly studied about the environment, potential materials, and how to both could fit in to generate an innovative idea. This is where we introduce KEJORA, as discussed in detailed above.

What inspired your team to choose this challenge?

We are inspired by the interest, awareness, and participation of the citizen of Earth. It shows the responsibility among diversity towards the important of new knowledge and discovery of the least unknown planet, Venus. Furthermore, as we mentioned earlier, Venus is known as Kejora or Bintang Kejora in the Malay Archipelago World, where it appears in the East before sunrise. Moreover, Kejora is famously use by well-known song writers in many Malaysian and Indonesian songs to express uniqueness, beauty and the brightest star; for example “Kejora” or “Kejoraku Bersatu” by legendary rockband called Search. Thus, these had inspired us to choose this challenge as it closely attaches to our interest and root.

What was your approach to developing this project?

With the 48 hours limited time allocated, we used the most realistic approach while developing this project such as triangulations technique. We heavily referred to the existing data and research papers shared by NASA and the other space agencies like European Space Agency (ESA), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and few others, which resources are listed down in the challenge tab: https://2022.spaceappschallenge.org/challenges/2022-challenges/exploring-venus/details

Moreover, we also read some academic papers on related topic via google scholar. We used search engine with keywords such as “mission to Venus”, “Venus 2022”, “project for Venus” and some others. As the time constraint, we do not have enough time to meet or to discuss with the experts in the area of challenges we are solving. Therefore, any misunderstanding on the concept that applied in this solution are solely from us based on our self-study. Upon completion of the project, we present our solution using Canva.

How did your team resolve setbacks and challenges?

Our team resolved all the setback and challenges using a simple milestone and SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). First, we designed the milestones for all tasks to be completed. Then, we identified possible strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for our team. Finally, we proceed all tasks after eliminated all risks that may slow down our project progress. We divided our tasks into three main group such as (1) designing the solutions, (2) writing the proposal, and (3) presenting the project. In sum, we minimized the setbacks, risks, and challenges in order to complete KEJORA project.

Is there anyone you'd like to thank and why?

We would like to thank to NASA and its affiliates, as well as other space agencies worldwide that collaborating to make this event success. They had given us the opportunity to learn and express our idea freely on Exploration to Venus, as well as using all-important data. Also, we would like to dedicate this project to Nasharul Aweera bin Norhissham (a.k.a) AWEERA, who had inspired us to call this project KEJORA as he himself is recognized as “Bintang Kejora” (the brightest Venus) in Malaysia as a young talented songwriter and the rock singer. Thank you everyone! See you all in Venus (Bintang Kejora) one day! 

We hope that KEJORA, our ad-hoc proposed design could potentially add a small contribution in exploring Venus through both mission DAVINCI+ and VERITAS. We also found our interest are in line with several space agencies around the world that making plans for their next Venus mission. There are several examples that support our claim, such as the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) plans to launch and orbiter in 2024, the Russian Federal Space Agency called ROSCOSMOS has proposed a new lander for 2029, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are in the final stages of considering several proposals for new Venus missions, China could also be thinking and preparing about mission of its own, whilst a private company named RocketLab is already working on a trip to Venus. All these initiative and evidence around the world indicate the important missions of exploring Venus while help us to understand the Earth’s closest neighbor and planets circling distant stars. 

1)   References

[1] Kane, S.R., Arney, G.N., Byrne, P.K., Dalba, P.A., Desch, S.J., Horner, J., Izenberg, N.R., Mandt, K.E., Meadows, V.S. and Quick, L.C. (2021). The fundamental connections between the Solar System and exoplanetary science.

[2] Lemonick, S. (2021). What can we learn from Venus?. Planned and proposed missions to Earth’s nearest neigbour could help scientists understand distant exoplanets’chemistry. Chemical & Engineering News, Volume 99, Issue 11, March 27 (2021). Accessed online on October 1 at https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/astrochemistry/What-can-we-learn-from-Venus/99/i11

[3] Ghail, R.C. and Wilson, L. (2015). A pyroclastic flow deposit on Venus. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 401(1), pp.97-106.

[4] Kremic, T., Ghail, R., Gilmore, M., Hunter, G., Kiefer, W., Limaye, S., Pauken, M., Tolbert, C. and Wilson, C. (2020). Long-duration Venus lander for seismic and atmospheric science. Planetary and space science, 190, p.104961.

[5] SpaceAppsChallenge (2022). Accessed online on October 2 at https://2022.spaceappschallenge.org/challenges/2022-challenges/exploring-venus/details

[6] Zou, P., Sui, Y., Zhan, H., Wang, C., Xin, H.L., Cheng, H.M., Kang, F. and Yang, C., (2021). Polymorph evolution mechanisms and regulation strategies of lithium metal anode under multiphysical fields. Chemical Reviews, 121(10), pp.5986-6056.

[7] Tan, Y.H., Lu, G.X., Zheng, J.H., Zhou, F., Chen, M., Ma, T., Lu, L.L., Song, Y.H., Guan, Y., Wang, J. and Liang, Z., (2021). Lithium Fluoride in Electrolyte for Stable and Safe Lithium‐Metal Batteries. Advanced Materials, 33(42), p.2102134.

[8] Liu, Y.T., Liu, S., Li, G.R. and Gao, X.P., 2021. Strategy of enhancing the volumetric energy density for lithium–sulfur batteries. Advanced Materials, 33(8), p.2003955.

[9] Luo, D., Zheng, L., Zhang, Z., Li, M., Chen, Z., Cui, R., Shen, Y., Li, G., Feng, R., Zhang, S. and Jiang, G., 2021. Constructing multifunctional solid electrolyte interface via in-situ polymerization for dendrite-free and low N/P ratio lithium metal batteries. Nature communications, 12(1), pp.1-11.

[10] Gao, Y., Qiao, F., You, J., Shen, C., Zhao, H., Gu, J., Ren, Z., Xie, K. and Wei, B., 2021. Regulating electrodeposition behavior through enhanced mass transfer for stable lithium metal anodes. Journal of Energy Chemistry, 55, pp.580-587.

[11] Gao, Y., Qiao, F., You, J., Ren, Z., Li, N., Zhang, K., Shen, C., Jin, T. and Xie, K., 2022. Effect of the supergravity on the formation and cycle life of non-aqueous lithium metal batteries. Nature communications, 13(1), pp.1-12

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