3 ms·
The answer is simple: Alice [1]. ALICE is a rocket propellant made of aluminum and water. Both are available on the surface of the moon. Just make it using sol
by credit_guy 5y ago
The answer is simple: Alice [1].
ALICE is a rocket propellant made of aluminum and water. Both are available on the surface of the moon. Just make it using solar panels where the sun shines, and ferry it around using lunar rovers. If it can be used to propel rockets, it can be used to power turbines for electrical generators.
And if people don't like old-fashined turbine-based dynamos, then, why not go for Alcoa's aluminum-based battery [2] ? The lunar regolith (dirt) contains plenty of oxygen and aluminum [3].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALICE_(propellant) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ALICE_(propellant)
[2] https://www.car-engineer.com/alcoa-phinergy-develop-commercialize-batteries-run-air-aluminum/ https://www.car-engineer.com/alcoa-phinergy-develop-commerci...
[3] https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/the-chemical-composition-of-lunar-soil/ https://sites.wustl.edu/meteoritesite/items/the-chemical-com...
- Clewza313 5y agoThis may be feasible as a long term solution, but how do you bootstrap the energy-intensive process of extracting and purifying aluminum in the first place?
- credit_guy 5y agoYou can bring let's say 100 tons of aluminum from Earth. At an energy density of 1.3 MWh/ton [1], you'd have 130 MWh of storage. And since there are 336 hours in the lunar night of 14 days, that corresponds to a power capacity of about 0.4 MW, which should be fairly decent for the bootstrap period. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium%E2%80%93air_battery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium%E2%80%93air_battery [1]