Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, has quietly announced on its blog that it has been working on its “Blue Alchemist” program for the past two years to make solar panels and power transmission cables from simulated soil. of the moon.
The research relies on a process known as “molten regolith electrolysis,” in which a direct electrical current is applied to simulated regolith at a very high temperature to extract iron, silicon, and aluminum from the lunar regolith.
Blue Origin engineers have used the byproducts of this process to make solar panels and their protective covering, which would allow the panels to survive on the lunar surface for a decade or more.
The importance of this achievement lies in the fact that the same electrolysis technology could be used to produce metals for the construction of habitats and other structures, as well as to generate oxygen. These advances are important if humans want to live and work in space. without having to rely entirely on Earth. Although there is still a long way to go for mass manufacturing on the Moon, this experiment represents a critical step in the development of technologies for space exploration and colonization.
Blue Origin hopes to commercialize this technology for NASA and its Artemis program, which seeks to return humans to the Moon in a long-term, sustainable way, creating infrastructure such as power systems. The company has also created a business unit focused exclusively on lunar activities and has been actively recruiting staff to work in this area for several years.
Undoubtedly an announcement that represents a major advance in space exploration and colonization, and demonstrates the potential of molten regolith electrolysis technology to produce vital resources on the Moon and other celestial bodies.
You can read the article at blueorigin.com.
