GLTRS--Glenn
TITLE AND SUBTITLE:
Materials Refining for Solar Array Production on the Moon

AUTHOR(S):
Geoffrey A. Landis

REPORT DATE:
December 2005

FUNDING NUMBERS:
WBS-22-319-20-B1

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field
Cleveland, Ohio 44135-3191

PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER:
E-15331

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Washington, DC 20546-0001

REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED:
Technical Memorandum

SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY REPORT NUMBER:
NASA TM-2005-214014

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES:
Prepared for the Space and Electric Power for Humanity, the Fourth International Symposium on Space Means for Power Utilities, and the Third Wireless Power Transmission Conference cosponsored by the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI) and the Société des Electriciens et des Electroniciens (SEE), Montreal, Canada, August 24-28, 1997, and 29th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Electron Devices Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 18-25, 2002. Responsible person, Geoffrey A. Landis, organization code RPV, 216-433-2238.

ABSTRACT:
Silicon, aluminum, and glass are the primary raw materials that will be required for production of solar arrays on the moon. A process sequence is proposed for producing these materials from lunar regolith, consisting of separating the required materials from lunar rock with fluorine. The fluorine is brought to the moon in the form of potassium fluoride, and is liberated from the salt by electrolysis in a eutectic salt melt. Tetrafluorosilane produced by this process is reduced to silicon by a plasma reduction stage; the fluorine salts are reduced to metals by reaction with metallic potassium. Fluorine is recovered from residual MgF and CaF2 by reaction with K2O.

SUBJECT TERMS:
Moon; Lunar base; Photovoltaics; ISRU; Silicon; Ore; Refining; Solar power

NUMBER OF PAGES:
24

PDF AVAILABLE FROM URL:
2005/TM-2005-214014.pdf ( 708 KB )
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