Spending a day on the Moon means enduring temperatures close to 100 degrees. The twilight is not a comfort for vehicles and crew, since when turning its back to the Sun, the surface of the satellite reaches -150 degrees. This thermal contrast between the two faces of the Moon is problematic even for the most advanced technology, which requires a powerful energy source after landing. A team of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, with the collaboration of their American counterparts, has devised an alternative system to the transport of heavy batteries or nuclear energy based on the in situ use of daytime solar radiation .
The scientists’ proposal consists of storing the energy of the sun’s rays during the day and harnessing it at night through a lunar soil modification system , which incorporates aluminum on its surface and converts it into a large thermal mass, and a reflection system that concentrates the light particles in this area by means of mirrors. The focused heat would cause the liquid contained in the aluminum tubes to evaporate, which in turn would generate an increase in temperature that would be transferred to a Stirling engine to produce electricity.
During the lunar night, the satellite ceases to receive the particles from the Sun and the pressure drops until it does not exceed two billionths of that of the Earth’s atmosphere. The rotational movement of the Moon lasts approximately 28 Earth days, so that the night lasts for 14 of them , in which temperatures of -150 degrees Celsius are reached, as indicated by the scientific news agency SINC.
Large space agencies, such as NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), are planning their first manned missions to our satellite for 2020 , for which an accurate response to the energy needs of the ships.
