[Courtesy of LG Chem]
South Korea's leading battery maker, LG Chem, has forged a deal to supply batteries for space suits to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the second half of this year.
LG Chem said its lithium-ion batteries have passed NASA's internal short-circuit stability test, outlasting Japanese and South Korean competitors. The company said its batteries are cheaper and have a longer lifespan than silver-zinc batteries that are widely used in aerospace and military sectors.
"We have shown the excellence of our battery technologies before the global market," LG Chem's battery business division president, Lee Ung-beom, said in a statement, adding his company would provide batteries applicable to more diverse aerospace and space equipment.
With the NASA deal, LG Chem said its batteries would be used more widely in next-generation applications, ranging from electric vehicles and electric ships to drones and space equipment.
LG Chem supplies batteries to more than 20 carmakers. In June last year, the company won a deal to provide batteries for the world's first eco-friendly hybrid ships to be built by Norwegian shipbuilder Eidesvik.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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Park Sae-jin
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