An Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad professor Chandra Shekha Sharma will be working on a metal CO2 battery which can reduce satellite's payload mass leading to reduction in the cost of planetary missions. He was awarded with SwarnaJayanti fellowship by the Ministry of Science and Technology. This project is touted to help boost India's Mars mission.
Professor Sharma demonstrated the technical feasibility of a Lithium-CO2 battery in a simulated Mars atmosphere. This study was published in the journal Elsevier's Materials Letters and an Indian patent was filed for it. He aims at using the Lithium battery for surface landers and rovers by using Carbon Dioxide abundantly available in the atmosphere. This will help to reduce the mass and volume of launchers.
Another aspect of this project is to restrain the negative impact of Carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere, thus making it eco-friendly.
Indian Mars mission had been started in 2013 with the launch of Mars Orbiter Mission which successfully landed on the surface of Mars and provided critical information about the planet.
IIT Hyderabad has been promoting innovations at its campus by both students and teachers as part of its incubation set-up. Earlier in November a campus-based start-up PURE EV announced launch of new high-speed long-range model of scooter.
