Blue Origin has made both solar cells and electricity transmission wires from simulat

[Roboramma]

I'm a big fan of the idea of in situ resource utilization in space. The more we can take advantages of resources in space, the less we need to launch from earth.

So this seems pretty cool to me:

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...a-big-lunar-announcement-without-any-fanfare/

On Friday, in a blog post not even promoted by the company's Twitter account or a news release, Blue Origin quietly said its "Blue Alchemist" program has been working on this very topic for the last two years. The company, founded by Jeff Bezos, has made both solar cells and electricity transmission wires from simulated lunar soil—a material that is chemically and mineralogically equivalent to lunar regolith.

The engineering work is based on a process known as "molten regolith electrolysis," and Blue Origin has advanced the state of the art for solar cell manufacturing. In this process, a direct electric current is applied to the simulated regolith at a high temperature, above 1,600° Celsius. Through this electrolysis process, iron, silicon, and aluminum can be extracted from the lunar regolith. Blue Origin says it has produced silicon to more than 99.999 percent purity through molten regolith electrolysis.

Here's the blog post: https://www.blueorigin.com/news/blue-alchemist-powers-our-lunar-future/

We assembled, in one laboratory, the people and facilities needed to transform regolith into solar cells and wires:

People: Our team encompasses all disciplines needed to solve this unprecedented technical challenge: geologists, geochemists, electrochemists, metallurgists, materials and photovoltaic scientists, fluid dynamicists, mechanical and electrical engineers, roboticists, and instrument, space flight, and systems engineers.

Facilities: Our laboratory is purpose-equipped for every step of the end-to-end process of transforming regolith into solar cells and aluminum wire, including quality and longevity testing.

The fact that they were able to do it all in a single facility also seems relevant.

 

[Darat]

That is jaw dropping. And as they say may have uses on the earth as well.