4 ms·

Nine nines is the usual target for semiconductor work… five nines is off-the-shelf. It’s impressive for “on the moon,” but I’d expect a significant performance

by addaon 4y ago

Nine nines is the usual target for semiconductor work… five nines is off-the-shelf. It’s impressive for “on the moon,” but I’d expect a significant performance shortfall from what we’re used to.

sacred_numbers 4y ago
Surprisingly it appears not to be too far off standard solar panel efficiencies. According to this source[0], five nines silicon (5N) is called Upgraded Mettalurgical-grade (UMG) silicon. According to this paper[1], efficiencies over 20% have been reached with UMG silicon. [0]http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/solar/technologies/pv_manufacturing.php http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/solar/technologies/pv_manufa... [1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038092X21002711#:~:text=20.76%25%20record%20efficiency https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00380....
tomrod 4y ago
I mean, how many of these do you need to produce as a seed? You certainly don't start the process at full capacity; if there are ways this nests into an evolving, self-reinforcing system to prepare for human contact then it's a fantastic start. It's not like we have huge space constraints for small starts, I reckon?
lightedman 4y ago
99.999% is what we used in our 156.25mm x 156.25mm polycrystalline cells when I did solar manufacturing. 21% efficiency was easily obtained, allowing ~300w in a 60-cell panel.
rippercushions 4y ago
However, there's no atmosphere or weather to worry about on the moon, so I'd expect that to improve efficiency quite a bit compared to the Earth. The real challenge with solar power on the Moon remains the two-week day/night cycle, which means either massive batteries (impractical) or awkward polar cliff locations to minimize the hit.
- freeone3000 4y ago
  Or a (partial) ring around the equator, video game style.
- mLuby 4y ago
  There is a thin "atmospheric" layer of molecules floating around the lunar surface. Indistinguishable from vacuum for most purposes but it might affect that many 9's of purity. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LADEE/news/lunar-atmosphere.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LADEE/news/lunar-atmosphe...
deleted 4y ago
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by addaon 4y ago

sacred_numbers 4y ago

Surprisingly it appears not to be too far off standard solar panel efficiencies. According to this source[0], five nines silicon (5N) is called Upgraded Mettalurgical-grade (UMG) silicon. According to this paper[1], efficiencies over 20% have been reached with UMG silicon. [0]http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/solar/technologies/pv_manufacturing.php http://www.greenrhinoenergy.com/solar/technologies/pv_manufa... [1]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0038092X21002711#:~:text=20.76%25%20record%20efficiency https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00380....

tomrod 4y ago

I mean, how many of these do you need to produce as a seed? You certainly don't start the process at full capacity; if there are ways this nests into an evolving, self-reinforcing system to prepare for human contact then it's a fantastic start. It's not like we have huge space constraints for small starts, I reckon?

lightedman 4y ago

99.999% is what we used in our 156.25mm x 156.25mm polycrystalline cells when I did solar manufacturing. 21% efficiency was easily obtained, allowing ~300w in a 60-cell panel.

rippercushions 4y ago

However, there's no atmosphere or weather to worry about on the moon, so I'd expect that to improve efficiency quite a bit compared to the Earth. The real challenge with solar power on the Moon remains the two-week day/night cycle, which means either massive batteries (impractical) or awkward polar cliff locations to minimize the hit.

freeone3000 4y ago
Or a (partial) ring around the equator, video game style.
mLuby 4y ago
There is a thin "atmospheric" layer of molecules floating around the lunar surface. Indistinguishable from vacuum for most purposes but it might affect that many 9's of purity. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LADEE/news/lunar-atmosphere.html https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LADEE/news/lunar-atmosphe...

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]