Astronauts could make 'Moonglass' solar panels from lunar dust
Why not use solar panels instead?
'Why not make solar panels on Earth and put them on board a rocket to the Moon?' - we hear you ask!Well, that is what astronauts and engineers have been doing over the last few years. "The solar cells used in space now are amazing, reaching efficiencies of 30% to even 40%, but that efficiency comes with a price," says researcher Felix Lang.But solar panels are quite heavy, and transporting them to space increases the weight of the rocket carrying them, meaning it needs more power to blast off, which costs more money."They are very expensive and are relatively heavy because they use glass or thick foil as cover. It's hard to justify lifting all these cells into space." said Felix Lang.So Felix's team are looking into the possibility of making solar panels on the Moon using materials available on the lunar surface. This change could reduce a spacecraft's launch weight by 99.4%, cut 99% of transport costs, and make long-term living on lunar bases more possible.
What is moonglass, and how have scientists made it?
As part of their research the scientists made a synthetic - or man-made - version of moon dust and melted it down to make moonglass.They then mixed in a crystal material called perovskite - which is able to cheaply, easily and efficiently turn sunlight into electricity.The scientists say this could be done by astronauts on the Moon, using concentrated sunlight to melt the materials together.When the team put their prototype panels to the test, they zapped them with space-grade radiation, and found that the moonglass versions performed better than the Earth-made ones. This is because standard glass slowly turns brown in space, blocking sunlight and meaning it doesn't work as well. However, moonglass has a natural brown tint, which prevents it from further darkening, and makes the solar panels more resistant to radiation.
The scientists still have a few unanswered questions from their research, including how the Moon's environment would affect the making process.Things like the Moon's gravity being different to on Earth, and whether the Moon's changing temperatures could affect the process.The team hopes that one day they can launch a small experiment to the moon to test out their solar panels in real lunar conditions."From extracting water for fuel to building houses with lunar bricks, scientists have been finding ways to use moon dust," said lead researcher Felix Lang. "Now, we can turn it into solar cells too, possibly providing the energy a future moon city will need."
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Daily Mail
38 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Last year was the most HUMID on record, scientists warn, bringing people into 'potentially life-threatening situations'
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Combined with rapidly rising temperatures, these hot and humid conditions are pushing more people into 'potentially life-threatening situations'. Dr Kate Willett of the Met Office, who is one of the report's editors, said: 'Human health can be seriously affected by high heat and humidity.' The last 30 years have shown a continuous trend of increasing global humidity. Humans don't directly put more water vapour into the atmosphere like we do with other greenhouse gases. But, as the climate warms due to human activity, it can hold about seven per cent more water for every 1°C (1.8°F) of warming. According to data gathered by the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the amount of water in the atmosphere was 4.9 per cent higher than the 1991-2020 average in 2024. That is significantly higher than 2016 and 2023, which have the second and third highest humidity levels at 3.4 and 3.3 per cent above the average, respectively. 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'Our report found that it's not just high temperatures that people are having to contend with, it's also humidity; with the frequency of high humid heat days at a record level, and intensity of those days at the second-highest level in the record, only fractionally cooler than 2023.' Throughout 2024, the global average number of high-humidity heat days reached a record of 35.6 days more than normal. Likewise, C3S found that 61 per cent of land areas experienced an above-average number of days with at least 'strong heat stress' - a feels-like temperature exceeding 32°C (90°F). On July 10, 2024, the total area affected by 'strong' to 'extreme heat stress' peaked at around 44 per cent of the globe, the largest area affected by this degree of heat stress of any day on record. However, an increasing amount of water vapour in the atmosphere also leads to a number of other issues. 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The Guardian
6 hours ago
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The Independent
19 hours ago
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Rising seas could put Easter Island's moai at risk by 2080, study warns
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