While showing great potential for new uses, the concept for a fuel cell is actually quite old.

"Fuel cells were invented in the 1800s," said H.T Everett, Kennedy Space Center's fluids manager who often deals with chemicals like hydrogen.

The first fuel cell was designed by Great Britain's Sir William Grove in 1839. Grove was a professor of physics at the London Institution and tinkered with creating batteries.

The professor knew that electrical current could be used to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen. Grove also suspected that reversing the process and combining the two gases would produce electricity. His suspicions were proven correct when his "gas voltaic battery" lit up a light bulb for the first time.

Despite the promise of fuel cells, their development remained stalled until NASA saw a use for them in the Gemini and Apollo space programs. The capsules the astronauts would ride in needed enough power to last for multiple days orbiting the Earth or traveling to the Moon.

Batteries alone couldn't hold enough power to keep everything running for that long, so NASA turned to fuel cells as a way to generate electricity while traveling through space.

The Focus uses the same type of fuel cell as the one refined by NASA. Despite its high-tech power-plant, the experimental vehicle looks just like any other car. It's not until peeking under the hood that the picture starts to change. Instead of a greasy, noisy engine, there's a clean and quiet electric motor.

Opening the trunk reveals not a place to stash luggage or groceries, but a fuel tank for holding hydrogen gas. The undercarriage also looks dramatically different, as the usual maze of pipes and parts are replaced with the body of the fuel cell itself.

Fuel cells like the ones installed in NASA's space capsules and in the experimental Ford Focus use a design known as a "Proton Exchange Membrane," or PEM. As sophisticated as the name sounds, the way a PEM works is ingeniously simple:

A PEM consists of individual chambers of hydrogen and oxygen separated by a one-way membrane and a wire circuit bridging them. What drives a PEM is the strong attraction of hydrogen and oxygen to mingle and form water.

The reaction is relatively simple and occurs easily. A PEM harnesses this attraction by stripping hydrogen atoms of their electrons and forcing them through the electricity-generating circuit, before joining the oxygen on the other side.

As the electrons pass through the circuit, the generated electricity is routed to a motor or batteries. At the same time, the remaining hydrogen particles pass effortlessly through the one-way membrane to the oxygen chamber, where they combine with the arriving electrons to form pure, clean water.

While the technology of fuels cells seems clever enough, why should America consider switching to fuel cell technology?

"The benefits to society are getting us away from petroleum-based fuels and onto a renewable fuel like hydrogen," pointed out Everett.

While their estimates vary, scientists and world leaders agree the Earth's oil supply is limited and will eventually run out. Long before that day comes, companies like Ford expect to make fuel cell cars as common a sight on the roads as today's gasoline powered automobiles.

If development continues at its current pace, fuel cell cars should be hitting sales floors in less than 10 years.

With fuel cell cars becoming available in the not-so-distant future, it would be fair to ask how their performance will compare to today's cars.

"The performance is better than the four cylinder combustion engine because electric motors have instant torque," Everett said. "You can even burn the tires on startup." The mileage is also very good, as a fuel cell car can travel 160 to 200 miles on one tank of clean and renewable hydrogen.

With the prospect of providing clean, efficient and sustainable transportation for the future, fuel cell cars like the Ford Focus may be just what we need to keep our country moving.

And while the arrival of the Focus may be a few years down the road, it's also another great illustration of the way NASA technology is benefiting America both today and tomorrow.

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