ABSL pioneered the use of COTS Li-ion cells for space applications by recognising that lower-capacity higher reliability cells could be connected in a series/parallel configuration to enable a flexible modular design that met the battery capacity and volume requirements of a large variety of different missions. One of ABSL’s favoured cell types is the 18650 cell which is 18mm in diameter and 65mm in length. The Company procures thousands of these cells, mostly via a special agreement with Sony, and then puts them through a comprehensive lot-acceptance testing process, followed by initial cell screening to produce a stock of space-qualified cells. These cells then go through detailed cell screening and matching before being assembled and rigorously environmentally tested to produce the flight-qualified batteries.
