The idea of ​​using the lunar soil to produce solar cells that could power a permanent colony in space may sound strange, but the two companies say they’ve made significant progress in that direction: each has already produced the first examples of such batteries.

what is known

• Blue Origin published the information in a blog post on Friday, February 10, but it says: Working on technology since 2021.
• Lunar Resources, which aims to develop technologies for the “large-scale industrialization of space,” told The Verge: has been doing the same thing for the past few years.

Researchers hope the technology will one day support human life on the Moon, but that audacious goal may be decades away. Solar cells in their current form are raw prototypes that have not yet been refined and modified..

Lunar Resources says the idea to make solar cells from lunar materials came about 15 years ago. But even 10 years ago, suggestions for using local resources were ridiculed as something out of science fiction. After 5 years, ridicule turned into cautious attention. And now scientists undertake these studies with courage and determination..