Submission Statement :

>Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' private spaceflight company, claims it has made major progress in developing a way to make solar panels using materials from the lunar surface.
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>The breakthrough could have big implications for future lunar habitation by providing a means of producing electricity-generating panels right there on the moon instead of needing to transport equipment from Earth.

"The process starts with making regolith simulants chemically and mineralogically equivalent to lunar regolith (dust, dirt and gravel), before melting and moving the molten regolith using a reactor, according to a Blue Origin statement. Iron, silicon and aluminum are extracted from the regolith by passing an electric current through the molten material. "

So they have to use electricity to extract the materials used to create solar cells in order to create electricity? Seems a bit like a chicken and egg scenario.

It does seem a little redundant, but with any form of energy production the key is getting more energy out than you put in. If you want coal to make electricity at a power plant you have to set it on fire first, and that takes energy.

Yeah but this applies to everything really.

Manufacturing solar panels and processing metals require electricity on Earth as well.

Nevertheless it’s simply a matter of a one time investment of energy getting you a solar cell that will repay it over time.

Thankfully they won't be starting from scratch ala No Man's Sky, they can bring reactors to supply energy till things get set up.

Considering you just bring enough solar panels to start the process, you can manufacture as many as you need and grow the operation if needed from there, without need for new ones from earth.

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Not really, it's more like induction or dominos. Do the first few with a nuclear battery, make the rest with the first batch

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Is this part of a broader strategic move by Blue Origin to move away from the rocket building business, and more into the colony building business? Or are they still very much investing in building their rocket building/launching business?

just send two nuclear batteries then...

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until we hear more about efficiency of such a setup, it's just a bunch of PR.

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I have no doubt such infrastructure is going to be needed in the future for the lunar base expansion and self-sufficiency for stuff like this in a couple of decades, but I seriously doubt it is going to be any efficient when setting up the base when this sounds like something that is going to take years/decades to pay off energy-wise.

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And if this was any efficient, we would have similar, but far more robust setups on Earth already, with solar panel farms dedicated to only create more solar panels basically out of thin air for zero cost outside of the initial setup, no?

I not saying it's a good idea, just that framing it as a contradiction because "you need solar panels for energy and you need energy for solar panels" isn't a true statement.

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I think nuclear powered bases will be the way to go...maybe forever.

Bro where we’re going, we don’t need no stinkin solar panels, just an 1800s steam engine and a hunk of plutonium and you’re chillin till you get you solar panel factory line right

I'm not certain, but Don't nuclear reactors still reqire water to produce power. Water is very heavy and enough to power you start up solar plant would be alot.

Jeff bezos is a piece of absolute garbage - but the concept of this project is cool.

The following submission statement was provided by /u/spacedotc0m:

Submission Statement :

>Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' private spaceflight company, claims it has made major progress in developing a way to make solar panels using materials from the lunar surface.
>
>The breakthrough could have big implications for future lunar habitation by providing a means of producing electricity-generating panels right there on the moon instead of needing to transport equipment from Earth.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/11au1jm/blue_origin_makes_solar_cells_out_of_simulated/j9tz7o8/

Blue was founded with colonies in mind from day 1. I suspect they'll have two equally large divisions for launch services and colonies

This logic doesn't apply to earth because escaping the atmosphere is slightly more expensive than shipping stuff from china. They're trying to avoid spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in rocket fuel to get solar panel materials up there every single time they need a new panel

OP should post this to r/blue origin. Surprised no one has posted this over there.