The more information we learn about lunar dust, or regolith, the more valuable it becomes for future space missions. Scientists have already found ways to extract oxygen, titanium and even use it as building material for bases on the Moon. And now scientists at the University of Potsdam in Germany have shown that it can be used to create solar panels, a potential energy source for future lunar bases.
Solar panels made of lunar dust
Earth-based solar panels require glass, which is heavy and expensive to transport to space. So the idea of manufacturing solar panels directly on the Moon from local materials looks very attractive.
The team, led by Felix Lang, experimented with a mimic of lunar regolith, because real samples are hard to get. They melted it down, producing a kind of lunar glass, a material that can be made on the Moon by simply focusing sunlight to heat it. Next, this glass was combined with perovskite, a crystalline material used in modern solar cells. When exposed to sunlight, the panel was able to generate an electric current.
Advantages and disadvantages
Lunar glass turned out to have some very compelling advantages. The first is resistance to radiation. In space, ordinary glass darkens, degrading the effectiveness of the panels, while the lunar analog already has a natural brown hue and does not deteriorate over time. Lunar glass weighs less than Earth glass. And the most important thing is that it can be manufactured on the Moon instead of being transported from the Earth, which would be very expensive.
But there are also disadvantages. Now the efficiency of such panels is only 10% against 30-40% of conventional space panels. However, scientists are confident that they can raise it to 23% by cleaning the glass from impurities.
Unresolved questions remain: whether the low gravity will affect the quality of the lunar glass, and whether the materials can withstand extreme temperature changes from +127°C during the day to -173°C at night. To answer them, the team is planning tests directly on the Moon. The ideal place for a base is considered the South Pole of our natural satellite – there is water ice and almost constant sunlight.
If the technology proves itself, it will make it much cheaper to build lunar colonies and make them completely energy-independent.
Earlier we reported on a new technology for extracting water on the Moon.
According to eurekalert.org
