The Use of Lunar Resources for Energy Generation on the Moon

Introduction

Energy is fundamental to nearly everything that humans would like to do in space, whether it is science, commercial development, or human exploration. If indigenous energy sources can be developed, a wide range of possibilities emerges for subsequent development. Some of these will lower the cost of future exploration, others will expand the range of activities that can be carried out, and some will reduce the risks of further exploration and development. This picture is particularly true for the Moon where significant electrical energy will be required for a number of lunar development scenarios; including science stations, lunar resource processing, and tourism. As example, the presence of water in the permanently shadowed craters at the poles of the Moon (Colparete et al. 2010; Heldman et al. 2011) will allow for propellant production: oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis which will require significant amounts of electrical energy. Further, proposed large radio telescopes on the back side of the Moon would require over 1 MW of power for echo microwave astronomy. The availability of solar cell raw materials in the surface regolith of the Moon, e.g., silicon, and the fact that the surface of the Moon is an ultra-high vacuum (1 x 10^− 10 Torr) environment allows for the direct fabrication of thin film solar cells directly on the surface of the Moon.