kmiainfo: From pyrite crystal to nuclear fission, Ambitious ideas for generating energy on the moon From pyrite crystal to nuclear fission, Ambitious ideas for generating energy on the moon

From pyrite crystal to nuclear fission, Ambitious ideas for generating energy on the moon

From pyrite crystal to nuclear fission, Ambitious ideas for generating energy on the moon A small, lightweight fission system, capable of operating on a lunar lander or rover, can provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power. Humanity is heading again to the moon, and this time it plans to survive, but astronauts on their long-term missions will need infrastructure to live, work, move and communicate with Earth, and produce the oxygen and water necessary to survive, and transporting all of this from Earth to the Moon is very expensive, so Instead, we need to know how to make it on the moon. Concrete material of human sweat, blood and tears is suitable for building on the moon and Mars Scientists presented many ideas, including some ambitious, such as the idea of ​​using pyrite crystal (false gold), which is only 400 millimeters in size, and is used to make small solar cells, and scientists believe that it can be a promising future source of energy on the moon. As a report published on Scitechdaily on December 5th said, working with the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, the European Space Agency (ESA) has studied the production of sandpaper-like coils. of these micro-crystals as a base for monolayer solar cells. “We are looking at these micro-crystals in the context of future lunar settlement,” explains Advinit Makaya, an advanced manufacturing engineer at the European Space Agency. “Future lunar bases will need to live independently of Earth in order to be sustainable, and the necessary iron and sulfur can be extracted.” To produce pyrite from the lunar surface. Dr. Tavi Radke tells "Psy Tech Daily" that their goal is "to develop a technology to make micro-crystals of pyrite and use them in a single-layer solar cell, where each small crystal acts as an individual solar cell," explaining that "the amount of energy generated by one cell is not enough but in "A normal-sized unit would have billions of these cells, and in principle there are no restrictions in terms of their size and shape. In addition, we have a goal that all the necessary materials can be obtained from the surface of the moon." For his part, Macaya adds that "this is only one of a group of ways to use resources in the location that the European Space Agency is looking for the moon or beyond," and the availability of energy is an important factor in choosing the location of a future lunar base, for example, it is preferable to choose the south pole of the moon, Because of the "peaks of eternal light" where solar energy is available almost continuously, at the lower latitudes of the moon, astronauts will have to live with nights of up to two weeks. Nuclear fission In the same context, the US space agency NASA (NASA) has been working for years on a project to generate energy on the lunar surface. Within the framework of the Artemis program led by the agency, astronauts will return to the lunar environment by 2024, with the aim of creating Finally, a long-term human presence on the moon, after an absence since 1972, the date of the last human mission to the moon. A report published in Science Alert on November 22 said that while any number of creative solutions might be able to help solve this problem, for many years NASA has considered nuclear fission to It is the most practical energy option for future astronaut colonies. The US Space Agency is now taking the next step in building a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface in cooperation with the US Department of Energy (DOE), with the two organizations now offering a call to US industry partners to submit the design for nuclear fission power systems that could operate on the lunar surface and be Ready to be launched and proven on the Moon within a decade. According to NASA , a small, lightweight fission system capable of operating on a lunar lander or rover could provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power, which would be enough to meet the electricity requirements of many average homes. In the context of lunar operations, energy use will be different from what families on Earth require, such as operating life support systems, charging lunar vehicles, and helping scientists conduct experiments. According to the NASA and Department of Energy briefing, future fission systems will eventually need to produce at least 40 kilowatts of power, which NASA says could power nearly 30 homes for up to 10 years. The secret of a star whose lifespan is longer than the age of the universe White dwarfs with very little mass actually form within the age range of the universe if they have a companion pulling their mass. A design for a binary system in which the star is pulled from the mass of the white dwarf (M. Weiss - Harvard Astrophysical Center - whitedwarf A research team led by Karim El-Badry, a post-doctoral student of Egyptian origin at Harvard University, discovered the existence of a very rare binary star system, which represented the solution to a decades-old problem in the realm of astrophysics. Binary star systems consist of two stars orbiting around each other, and they are common in our galaxy, and represent about 40% of the stars we see in the sky, and because they are so far away, we see them as one star. Impossible star But this binary star that Al-Badri and his team found is a special case, there is no doubt about that, in which a star called a "white dwarf with a very small mass" orbits with another star. At the beginning of their lives, stars are as massive as the sun, but at the end of their lives they shake off their outer envelopes, leaving in the center a white dwarf with a mass equal to about a third of the mass of the sun. However, this particular class of white dwarfs, which are called extremely low mass white dwarfs (ELM) for short, are less in mass than the usual white stars, and astronomical calculations indicate that the formation of a star with this very small mass It takes more time than the age of the universe itself, that is, more than about 13.8 billion years, and despite that, we are already observing these stars in the sky. Smart solution A few decades ago, a hypothesis emerged saying that there is a solution to this problem, which is that this type of "white dwarf" exists in binary systems, if it meets with another star, this other star will withdraw its mass with time at a faster rate than astronomical calculations expect, and then They can exist with this very small amount of mass during the lifetime of the universe. To confirm this hypothesis, El-Badri and his colleagues turned to new data from Gaia, the space observatory launched by the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Zwicky astronomical survey at CalTech, and this team narrowed down a billion stars. Possible to 50 candidates. According to the study - published in the "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society", and announced by Harvard University in an official statement on the first of this December - among the This group of stars, the research team found 21 binary stars in which the white dwarf is already close to reaching the very low mass stage. This means direct observation of a transitional phase that confirms that white dwarfs with very little mass are already formed within the age range of the universe if they have a companion that withdraws from their mass.

From pyrite crystal to nuclear fission, Ambitious ideas for generating energy on the moon


A small, lightweight fission system, capable of operating on a lunar lander or rover, can provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power.

Humanity is heading again to the moon, and this time it plans to survive, but astronauts on their long-term missions will need infrastructure to live, work, move and communicate with Earth, and produce the oxygen and water necessary to survive, and transporting all of this from Earth to the Moon is very expensive, so Instead, we need to know how to make it on the moon.

Concrete material of human sweat, blood and tears is suitable for building on the moon and Mars
Scientists presented many ideas, including some ambitious, such as the idea of ​​using pyrite crystal (false gold), which is only 400 millimeters in size, and is used to make small solar cells, and scientists believe that it can be a promising future source of energy on the moon.

As a report published on Scitechdaily on December 5th said, working with the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, the European Space Agency (ESA) has studied the production of sandpaper-like coils. of these micro-crystals as a base for monolayer solar cells.

“We are looking at these micro-crystals in the context of future lunar settlement,” explains Advinit Makaya, an advanced manufacturing engineer at the European Space Agency. “Future lunar bases will need to live independently of Earth in order to be sustainable, and the necessary iron and sulfur can be extracted.” To produce pyrite from the lunar surface.

Dr. Tavi Radke tells "Psy Tech Daily" that their goal is "to develop a technology to make micro-crystals of pyrite and use them in a single-layer solar cell, where each small crystal acts as an individual solar cell," explaining that "the amount of energy generated by one cell is not enough but in "A normal-sized unit would have billions of these cells, and in principle there are no restrictions in terms of their size and shape. In addition, we have a goal that all the necessary materials can be obtained from the surface of the moon."

For his part, Macaya adds that "this is only one of a group of ways to use resources in the location that the European Space Agency is looking for the moon or beyond," and the availability of energy is an important factor in choosing the location of a future lunar base, for example, it is preferable to choose the south pole of the moon, Because of the "peaks of eternal light" where solar energy is available almost continuously, at the lower latitudes of the moon, astronauts will have to live with nights of up to two weeks.

Nuclear fission
In the same context, the US space agency NASA (NASA) has been working for years on a project to generate energy on the lunar surface. Within the framework of the Artemis program led by the agency, astronauts will return to the lunar environment by 2024, with the aim of creating Finally, a long-term human presence on the moon, after an absence since 1972, the date of the last human mission to the moon.

A report published in Science Alert on November 22 said that while any number of creative solutions might be able to help solve this problem, for many years NASA has considered nuclear fission to It is the most practical energy option for future astronaut colonies.

The US Space Agency is now taking the next step in building a nuclear reactor on the lunar surface in cooperation with the US Department of Energy (DOE), with the two organizations now offering a call to US industry partners to submit the design for nuclear fission power systems that could operate on the lunar surface and be Ready to be launched and proven on the Moon within a decade.

According to NASA , a small, lightweight fission system capable of operating on a lunar lander or rover could provide up to 10 kilowatts of electrical power, which would be enough to meet the electricity requirements of many average homes.

In the context of lunar operations, energy use will be different from what families on Earth require, such as operating life support systems, charging lunar vehicles, and helping scientists conduct experiments.

According to the NASA and Department of Energy briefing, future fission systems will eventually need to produce at least 40 kilowatts of power, which NASA says could power nearly 30 homes for up to 10 years.


The secret of a star whose lifespan is longer than the age of the universe
White dwarfs with very little mass actually form within the age range of the universe if they have a companion pulling their mass.

A design for a binary system in which the star is pulled from the mass of the white dwarf (M. Weiss - Harvard Astrophysical Center - whitedwarf

A research team led by Karim El-Badry, a post-doctoral student of Egyptian origin at Harvard University, discovered the existence of a very rare binary star system, which represented the solution to a decades-old problem in the realm of astrophysics.

Binary star systems consist of two stars orbiting around each other, and they are common in our galaxy, and represent about 40% of the stars we see in the sky, and because they are so far away, we see them as one star.

Impossible star
But this binary star that Al-Badri and his team found is a special case, there is no doubt about that, in which a star called a "white dwarf with a very small mass" orbits with another star.

At the beginning of their lives, stars are as massive as the sun, but at the end of their lives they shake off their outer envelopes, leaving in the center a white dwarf with a mass equal to about a third of the mass of the sun.

However, this particular class of white dwarfs, which are called extremely low mass white dwarfs (ELM) for short, are less in mass than the usual white stars, and astronomical calculations indicate that the formation of a star with this very small mass It takes more time than the age of the universe itself, that is, more than about 13.8 billion years, and despite that, we are already observing these stars in the sky.

Smart solution
A few decades ago, a hypothesis emerged saying that there is a solution to this problem, which is that this type of "white dwarf" exists in binary systems, if it meets with another star, this other star will withdraw its mass with time at a faster rate than astronomical calculations expect, and then They can exist with this very small amount of mass during the lifetime of the universe.

To confirm this hypothesis, El-Badri and his colleagues turned to new data from Gaia, the space observatory launched by the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Zwicky astronomical survey at CalTech, and this team narrowed down a billion stars. Possible to 50 candidates.

According to the study - published in the "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society", and announced by Harvard University in an official statement on the first of this December - among the This group of stars, the research team found 21 binary stars in which the white dwarf is already close to reaching the very low mass stage.

This means direct observation of a transitional phase that confirms that white dwarfs with very little mass are already formed within the age range of the universe if they have a companion that withdraws from their mass.
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