Eaglepicher Technologies signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Orbital Sciences Corp. for lithium-ion batteries, Eaglepicher announced June 15. The three- year contract includes a qualification program, hardware to support spacecraft integration and test program as well as flight hardware for multiple satellites.

The contract will start with the design and manufacturing of the battery. The battery will go through qualification tests, which if it passes will be built for the use in testing the spacecraft with the new lithium-ion technology.