Battery Blows Up and Destroys NASA Robot

Lithium-ion batteries going boom have been in the news a lot recently because of Samsung's exploding Galaxy Note 7. But Samsung isn't the only one with an exploding battery problem. NASA's having its own difficulties. Back in June, a group of researchers from NASA JPL working on the RoboSimian robot were replacing the battery when they left it charging to go eat lunch. While they were gone, the robot sort of exploded. It's still not completely clear what happened, but the investigators believe one of the battery cells was damaged and became overcharged, setting off a chain reaction that led to the entire battery exploding. The battery on RoboSimian can store more than ten times as much energy as a typical laptop battery. It's the equivalent of a stick of dynamite. No wonder NASA is being cautious about their battery safety. This type of lithium-ion battery is used on many NASA spacecraft, including NASA's Juno probe currently orbiting Jupiter and on the upcoming Mars 2020 rover. Fortunately none of those have had similar problems. Source: NASA OSMA via Gizmodo