The company of billionaire Jeff Bezos has developed a prototype solar panel using simulated lunar soil, marking a significant advance in lunar resource extraction.
With the Artemis program, NASA aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon rather than just landing and returning. To achieve this goal, humanity will need to utilize resources available on the Moon.
Prototype solar panel made from simulated lunar soil. (Photo: Blue Origin)
Billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, hopes to contribute to this with the Blue Alchemist solar energy project, as reported by Cnet on February 13. Blue Origin has been developing solar panels and transmission wires from simulated lunar soil since 2021 and has now created a functional prototype solar panel.
Lunar soil is the material found on the surface of the Moon and is vastly different from the soil on Earth. It consists of a mixture of dust, rock fragments, minerals, and glass. Simulated lunar soil is an alternative mixture that mimics the components and properties of the real material.
To fabricate the solar panel prototype, experts at Blue Origin utilize extreme temperatures and electricity. “Our reactor produces iron, silicon, and aluminum through the electrolysis of molten simulated lunar soil, where an electric current separates these elements from the oxygen they are bonded with,” the company stated.
Silicon is a key component of solar panels, and this process produces ultra-pure silicon suitable for solar energy. Blue Origin reports that the new method does not use the toxic chemicals typically employed to refine silicon on Earth.
Subsequently, the solar panel is encased in glass made from byproducts of the lunar soil electrolysis process. Blue Origin estimates that this type of solar panel could last more than a decade.
Transporting equipment to the Moon’s surface is complex and costly. Therefore, instead of manufacturing solar panels on Earth and shipping them to the Moon, it seems more logical to extract local resources. A similar approach is being considered for the goal of establishing a settlement on Mars. The Moon could serve as a testing ground for technologies that will help humans settle on other worlds.
