The 'Blue Alchemist' technology could be a big boost for plans to build and operate outposts on the moon.
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' private spaceflight company, claims it has made major progress in developing a way to make solar panels using materials from the lunar surface.
The breakthrough could have big implications for future lunar habitation by providing a means of producing electricity-generating panels right there onThe process starts with making regolith simulants chemically and mineralogically equivalent to lunar regolith , before melting and moving the molten regolith using a reactor, according to a Blue Origin
. Iron, silicon and aluminum are extracted from the regolith by passing an electric current through the molten material. The process, which the company calls Blue Alchemist, allows a team to then make solar panels, a protective glass to cover them and wiring. Furthermore, the byproduct from the process is oxygen, which can be used for life support or for propulsion for rockets.said it has been making solar cells and transmission wires from regolith simulant since 2021.
"Blue Origin's goal of producing solar power using only lunar resources is aligned with NASA's highest priority moon-to-
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