[6] The nickel–hydrogen battery was patented in the United States on February 25, 1971 by Alexandr Ilich Kloss, Vyacheslav Mikhailovic Sergeev and Boris Ioselevich Tsenter from the Soviet Union.

[7] NiH2 cells using 26% potassium hydroxide (KOH) as an electrolyte have shown a service life of 15 years or more at 80% depth of discharge (DOD)[8] The energy density is 75 Wh/kg, 60 Wh/dm3[2] specific power 220 W/kg.

[16] The development of the nickel hydrogen battery started in 1970 at Comsat[17] and was used for the first time in 1977 aboard the U.S. Navy's Navigation technology satellite-2 (NTS-2).

The negative hydrogen electrode utilises a teflon-bonded platinum black catalyst at a loading of 7 mg/cm2 and the separator is knit zirconia cloth (ZYK-15 Zircar).

[21][22] The Hubble replacement batteries are produced with a wet slurry process where a binder agent and powdered metallic materials are molded and heated to boil off the liquid.