January 24, 2005

Dust to energy?

Solar cells built from lunar dust? Now that's a thought.

Four years ago, Alex Freundlich and his colleagues at the University of Houston in Texas came up with the idea of getting robotic rovers to build solar cells entirely out of lunar dust or "regolith" (New Scientist print edition, 24 June 2000). This fine, grey powder is half silicon dioxide, with the remainder made up of a blend of oxides of 12 metals, including aluminium, magnesium and iron.

The team reasoned that this mix contains all the elements necessary to build a solar panel, and suggested that robots trundling over the lunar surface could melt regolith, refine it and then lay down a glassy substrate on which solar cells could be deposited. The rover - solar-powered, of course - would leave a trail of solar panels in its wake (see graphic).

[snip]

The researchers then showed that a solar cell deposited on the surface of this sheet by thermal evaporation converts light into electricity.

Amazing. They simulated this regolith in a vacuum chamber. Obviously it could have massive implications for space exploration.

Posted by Linkmeister at January 24, 2005 10:42 AM
Comments

This was a very interesting post and I went to the NewScientist.com web site and read the entire article (along with several others). Marshall Space Flight Center is sponsoring a workshop on just this topic this week along with the possibilities of mining Helium3 on the lunar surface. I have been working another project with one of the astrophysicists attending and I'm going to try to pump him for more information Thursday or Friday . I have long felt that the possibility of mining energy sources on the lunar surface is the driving force behind the Chinese space program.

One interesting fact I learned from a friend who was at the workshop yesterday is that when the astronauts were on the lunar surface the dust penetrated the fibers of their space suits and attached to the skin and it would not wash off. The dust only came off when the dead skin was sluffed off.

I'm looking forward to learning more about all of these topics.

Posted by: fred at January 25, 2005 02:39 PM