Fuel Cell, Gemini, Cutaway

Object Details

Manufacturer

General Electric Co. (Lynn, MA)

Summary

This fuel cell is a cutaway version of the electric-power generating device used on the two-astronaut Gemini spacecraft during ten missions in 1965-66. A fuel cell is like a battery, in that it uses a chemical reaction to create an electrical current. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell will continue to generate a current as long as the reactants are supplied. The Gemini fuel cell used liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to generate electricity, with water as a byproduct. Oxygen and hydrogen molecules reacted and combined across a "proton exchange membrane," a thin permeable polymer sheet coated with a platinum catalyst.

The Gemini program pioneered the use of fuel cells in space, and this technology was subsequently used in the Apollo Service Module and the Space Shuttle Orbiter. General Electric, the manufacturer of Gemini fuel cells, gave this artifact to the Smithsonian in 1966.

Country of Origin

United States of America

See more items in

National Air and Space Museum Collection

Credit Line

Gift of General Electric Company

Data Source

National Air and Space Museum

Inventory Number

A19660647000

Type

SPACECRAFT-Crewed-Electrical Power

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Materials

Stainless steel, other metals

Dimensions

3-D: 61 × 40 × 46cm (24 × 15 3/4 × 18 1/8 in.)

Metadata Usage

CC0

GUID

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv94a795903-d82b-40a6-828d-a0b9bfb5494c

Record ID

nasm_A19660647000