{"id":17315,"date":"2023-02-13T20:17:37","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T12:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-talks-up-technology-that-could-eventually-turn-moon-dirt-into-solar-cells\/"},"modified":"2023-02-13T20:17:37","modified_gmt":"2023-02-13T12:17:37","slug":"blue-origin-talks-up-technology-that-could-eventually-turn-moon-dirt-into-solar-cells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-talks-up-technology-that-could-eventually-turn-moon-dirt-into-solar-cells\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin talks up technology that could eventually turn moon dirt into solar cells"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Blue Origin says coin-sized solar cells like this one could be made from lunar material. (Blue Origin Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture isn\u2019t just working on rockets and space stations: The Kent, Wash.-based company is also developing a technology that could someday transform the moon\u2019s soil into materials for electricity-producing solar cells and transmission wire.<\/p>\n

That branch of Blue Origin\u2019s advanced development programs takes the spotlight in a blog item posted to the company\u2019s website. The underlying approach \u2014 called molten regolith electrolysis, or MRE \u2014 has been the subject of research for decades, but Blue Origin says it\u2019s refined the technique over the past two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can make power systems on the moon directly from materials that exist everywhere on the surface, without special substances brought from Earth,\u201d the company says. \u201cWe have pioneered the technology and demonstrated all the steps. Our approach, Blue Alchemist, can scale indefinitely, eliminating power as a constraint anywhere on the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past few years, Blue Origin and its subsidiary, Honeybee Robotics, have received funding from NASA for technologies that could turn raw materials from the moon or Mars into the stuff that\u2019ll be needed to support future settlements \u2014 stuff that ranges from water and oxygen to iron and silicon. The approach is known as in-situ resource utilization, or ISRU. <\/p>\n

Some of that funding has gone toward MRE experiments, but it\u2019s not clear whether NASA has something specific in mind for Blue Alchemist. \u201c\u201cWe\u2019re eager to work with NASA and the ISRU community to advance this technology in support of Moon to Mars objectives,\u201d a Blue Origin spokesperson told me in an email.<\/p>\n

Typically, one of the reasons for publicizing such initiatives would be to whet the appetites of potential job applicants \u2014 and for what it\u2019s worth, Blue Origin is advertising dozens of positions in its advanced development programs.<\/p>\n

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An artist\u2019s conception shows the Blue Alchemist system at work on the moon. (Blue Origin Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Blue Alchemist process involves melting down lunar regolith \u2014 that is, rock and soil from the moon\u2019s surface \u2014 and putting it in a reactor at a temperature of about 1,600 degrees Celsius (2,900 degrees Fahrenheit). For Blue Origin\u2019s earthly experiments, simulated moon dirt is used. <\/p>\n

An electrical current can be passed through the molten regolith to break down oxides and separate out elements such as iron, silicon and aluminum. This electrolytic method is similar to how water, or H2<\/sub>O, can be broken down through electrolysis to produce hydrogen and oxygen.<\/p>\n

The oxygen coming from Blue Origin\u2019s reaction could be used for rocket propulsion or life support, while the iron, silicon and aluminum could be used to manufacture electrical components.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur process purified silicon to more than 99.999%,\u201d Blue Origin says. \u201cThis level of purity is required to make efficient solar cells. While typical silicon purification methods on Earth use large amounts of toxic and explosive chemicals, our process uses just sunlight and the silicon from our reactor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Material refined through the Blue Alchemist method can also be used to create the cover glass required for the solar cells, plus aluminum wire for transmission lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause our technology manufactures solar cells with zero carbon emissions, no water, and no toxic ingredients or other chemicals, it has exciting potential to directly benefit the Earth,\u201d Blue Origin says.<\/p>\n

Although Blue Origin\u2019s blog item doesn\u2019t specify how the regolith would be melted down, MRE researchers \u2014 including some who are now employed by the company \u2014 have discussed using solar concentrators or electric arc furnaces.<\/p>\n

The idea of manufacturing industrial components in off-Earth factories, and perhaps even sending the finished goods down to Earth, has long been close to Bezos\u2019 heart. Back in 2018, he told me that he looked forward to a \u201cGreat Inversion\u201d in industrial production, fueled by space solar power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Earth is not a very good place to do heavy industry,\u201d Bezos said at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s convenient for us right now, but in the not-too-distant future \u2014 I\u2019m talking decades, maybe 100 years \u2014 it\u2019ll start to be easier to do a lot of the things we currently do on Earth in space, because we\u2019ll have so much energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve updated this report with further comment from Blue Origin.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blue Origin says coin-sized solar cells like this one could be made from lunar material. (Blue Origin Photo) Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture isn\u2019t just working on rockets and space stations: The Kent, Wash.-based company is also developing a technology that could someday transform the moon\u2019s soil into materials for electricity-producing solar cells and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[509,625,4545,4413],"class_list":["post-17315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-moon","tag-solar-cell","tag-solar-power"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}