Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center episode 282

Better batteries. I'm Gary Jordan, and I'll be your host today. On this podcast, we bring in the experts

Science and engineers and astronauts. I'll tell you know what's going on in the world of human space flight

We don't really think about it all the time

But batteries are a part of our everyday lives even now

You likely have a phone with a lithium ion battery in your pocket or you're in the car

That thankfully started this morning because you had a working battery

But beyond just functionality we put these batteries in our cars and in our pockets

Because we have an expectation for them to be safe and reliable

On the International Space Station astronauts depend on safe and reliable lithium ion batteries for everyday functions

These batteries are used to power devices on the ISS such as

Communication systems laptop computers breathing devices and more and thanks to some of the work that has made

Batteries in space safe and reliable. We can have more trust in the battery that's in our pocket

Joining us for today's episode to educate us on all things space batteries

We have Dr. Eric Darcy. Eric has spent more than 30 years at NASA in the areas of battery design verification and

Safety assessment for the rigors of human space flight applications

As battery technical discipline lead at NASA's Johnson Space Center

His main objective has been the development of safe while high performing battery systems with a deep focus on

Understanding preventing and mitigating latent defects that could lead to catastrophic cell internal short circuits

With the national renewable energy laboratory or NREL colleagues

He is a co-adventor of the patented on-demand internal short circuit device that has provided significant design insights into the cell response

During thermal runaway

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