Platinum-enabled fuel cell technology supports humanity’s biggest leaps

The Artemis II astronauts have successfully made their way back to Earth following an historic lunar fly‑by. Although the four‑person crew did not land on the moon, their journey around the moon — taking humans farther from Earth than ever before — marked a critical milestone in NASA’s Artemis programme and set the stage for a new era of lunar exploration which will include establishing a human presence on the moon.
Artemis is a NASA‑led, international human spaceflight programme designed to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s. Future Artemis missions aim to explore the moon’s South Pole, establishing a sustainable human presence there and laying the technological foundations for future missions to Mars. The first Artemis lunar landing is targeted for early 2028.
Hydrogen fuel cells have a long association with space exploration, with NASA funding development of the first fuel cells because they were necessary to cut weight from the Apollo spacecraft for moon missions. Three fuel cells in the Apollo service module provided electricity for the capsule containing the astronauts. While spacecraft power technologies have evolved, fuel cells remain deeply relevant to the future of technology.