First demonstration of photovoltaic diodes on lunar regolith-based substrate

Horton, Charles; Gramajo, C.; Alemu, A.; Williams, L. M.; Ignatiev, A.; Freundlich, A.

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2004.10.004

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Melting regolith at 1800 ° C into an insulating glass substrate followed by deposition of prefabricated solar cells has been subject to preliminary experiments with lunar regolith simulant JSC-1. 14 Simulant was resistively heated in tungsten crucibles in a vacuum chamber. The simulant softens at 1300 ° C and melts at 1600 ° C. This molten regolith may be deposited onto fused silica glass substrates as transparent thin films of primarily silica.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generating and storing power on the moon using in situ resources

Ellery

2021

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

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The Moon Village and similar concepts are strongly reliant on in situ resource utilisation (ISRU). There is great interest in harvesting solar power using locally leveraged in situ resources as an essential facet of in situ infrastructure. Traditionally, silicon-based photovoltaic cells have been assumed, preferably manufactured in situ using a 3D printing rover, but there are major difficulties with such scenarios. Solar cells require pre-processing of regolith and solar cell manufacture. We present an alternative lunar resource leveraged-solar power production system on the Moon which can yield high conversion efficiencies – solar Fresnel lens-thermionic conversion. The thermionic vacuum tube is constructed from lunar-derived materials and NiFe asteroidal ores on the Moon. Given that the majority of energy required for ISRU is thermal, thermionic conversion exploits this energy source directly. Silicates such as anorthite can be treated with acid to yield alumina and silicic acid in solution from which pure silica can be precipitated. Pure silica when heated to high temperature yields fused silica glass which is transparent – fused silica glass may be employed to manufacture Fresnel lenses and/or mirrors. Both silica and alumina may be input to the Metalysis Fray Farthing Chen Cambridge electrolytic process to yield near pure Si and near pure Al, respectively.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generating and storing power on the moon using in situ resources

Ellery

2021

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G:

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“…A molten oxide electrolysis process has been proposed to process raw regolith to produce oxygen for life support, silicon for solar cells, reactive metals for advanced storage batteries, and steel and aluminium for construction (Sammells and Semkow, 1988; Taylor and Carrier, 1992). Alternatively, some studies have been performed to develop methods to use lunar regolith as a construction (Grugel and Toutanji, 2008; Allen et al , 1994; Faierson et al , 2010; Taylor and Meek, 2005), electronic substrate (Horton et al , 2005), radiation shielding (Miller et al , 2009; Roberson et al , 2009), refractory and heat shield material (Poisl and Fabes, 1993). In situ fabrication and repair (ISFR) using locally provisioned and/or locally refined materials on the Moon require state‐of‐the‐art fabrication technologies to support habitat structure development, tools and mechanical parts fabrication, as well as repair and replacement of ground support and space mission hardware (such as life support items and launch vehicle components).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The processing or fabrication methods used so far in the development of useful products from lunar regolith require extensive tooling, and the cost of transporting them from Earth to the Moon would be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, fabrication of construction elements (Grugel and Toutanji, 2008; Allen et al , 1994; Faierson et al , 2010; Roberson et al , 2009), tools/parts (Taylor and Meek, 2005) and electronic substrates (Horton et al , 2005) from lunar regolith via conventional processing (such as melting/sintering) would be highly energy intensive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First demonstration on direct laser fabrication of lunar regolith parts

Balla

Roberson

OConnor³

et al. 2012

Rapid Prototyping Journal

113

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Establishment of a lunar or Martian outpost necessitates the development of methods to utilize in situ mineral resources for various construction and resource extraction applications. Fabrication technologies are critical for habitat structure development, as well as repair and replacement of tools and parts at the outpost. Herein we report the direct fabrication of lunar regolith simulant parts, in freeform environment, using lasers. We show that raw lunar regolith can be processed at laser energy levels as a low as 2.12 J mm-2 resulting in nanocrystalline and/or amorphous microstructures. Potential applications of laser based fabrication technologies to make useful regolith parts for various applications including load bearing composite structures, radiation shielding, and solar cell substrates is described.

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“…We have previously shown [3] that such thin film solar cells can be fabricated on melted lunar regolith glass, and we use that experience to generate the power needed for the construction and operation of the Astrophysical Observatory.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%