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Space

Blue Alchemist to make solar cells on the Moon using moondust

By David Szondy
July 27, 2023
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Blue Alchemist produces solar cells from lunar soil
Blue Origin
Blue Alchemist uses lunar materials to autonomously produce solar cells and other products
Blue Origin
Blue Alchemist coating solar cell with glass
Blue Origin
Molten material moving through the Blue Alchemist process
Blue Origin
Oxygen boiling away from molten material
Blue Origin
Blue Alchemist produces solar cells from lunar soil
Blue Origin
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With the aim of allowing astronauts to live off the land as much as possible when they return to the Moon, NASA has awarded Blue Origin a US$35-million Tipping Point contract to develop the company's Blue Alchemist process to make solar cells out of lunar soil.

The biggest bottleneck to establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon and beyond is the staggering cost of sending equipment and supplies from Earth. NASA and other space agencies believe that the best way to overcome this is to use local resources as much as possible to manufacture what's needed.

Under development since 2021, Blue Alchemist is an example of this. The basic concept is to develop a complete process that takes the lunar soil, more formally known as the regolith, at one end and spits out complete solar cells and other products at the other.

Using a simulated lunar regolith raw material created on Earth that mimics the grain size as well as the elements in the original, Blue Alchemist uses a series of steps to melt the material at 1,600 °C (2.912 °F) and then remove the various elements using electrolysis and other methods, with a contactless system moving the molten material from one stage to the next. All of these can be replicated under lunar conditions.

Molten material moving through the Blue Alchemist process
Blue Origin

Through the process, oxygen is boiled off and collected. Metals are then extracted, including iron, aluminum, and silicon. The end product is silicon that is more than 99.999% pure, suitable for solar cells, and does not need toxic or explosive methods to produce. Even the glass used to coat the cells made from the silicon is a product of Blue Alchemist. According to Blue Origin, this, along with being emission-free, also makes it a more environmentally friendly system for use on Earth.

"Harnessing the vast resources in space to benefit Earth is part of our mission, and we’re inspired and humbled to receive this investment from NASA to advance our innovation," said Pat Remias, vice president, Capabilities Directorate of Space Systems Development. "First we return humans to the Moon, then we start to 'live off the land.'"

The contract is aimed at an autonomous demonstration of Blue Alchemist by 2026.

Source: Blue Origin

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SpaceNASAMoonBlue OriginSolar Cell
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David Szondy
David Szondy is a playwright, author and journalist based in Seattle, Washington. A retired field archaeologist and university lecturer, he has a background in the history of science, technology, and medicine with a particular emphasis on aerospace, military, and cybernetic subjects. In addition, he is the author of four award-winning plays, a novel, reviews, and a plethora of scholarly works ranging from industrial archaeology to law. David has worked as a feature writer for many international magazines and has been a feature writer for New Atlas since 2011.
4 comments
Kaytown
Lovely idea, but (and it's a HUGE but!) what is the energy source to heat up the regolith to 1600°C?
Karmudjun
Nice article David! Once we have the beginnings of a colony on the moon - or a colonial hotel of sorts with its necessary solar cells for power and possible fission or fusion generator for whatever one might need an extra energy source for - a single module of these contactless regolith processing systems could start producing solar cells. But there is more to solar cell utilization - the framework, the wiring, the storage batteries or high density capacitors required to provide that extra burst of power needed during high energy usage (like taking fresh regolith to 1600 d. Celsius). Will the final system from Blue Alchemist be durable enough to run continuously or will it need downtime and maintenance? Can these modules easily be manufactured once a habitat is sustainable on the moon? Or would new modules need to be manufactured to replace the previous modules that wore out or could not be maintained any longer? I understand there would be no question that a lunar habitat with the capacity to manufacture these modules would have the necessary solar power to start the process - or why would physicists and astrophysicists fund such a process in the first place?
Jinpa
Moon dust is notoriously fine, thus difficult to filter. Solar cells don't have to be done in an atmosphere as clean as some other clean rooms, but doing this at scale would be a real challenge. How much square footage does NASA think will have to be produced to be worth the effort? And how would those solar cells be supported/mounted and protected to keep them clean enough over time to continue working effectively? Garden water hoses won't be available.
Malatrope
Your headline is completely misleading clickbait. 1) they aren't using real regolith, 2) they aren't doing this on the Moon, and 3) the output is purified materials, not an assembled solar cell. It's good that they are doing this, but they are a long way from a mission to demonstrate useful production of a power source on the Moon.
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