The Fraunhofer IST at the Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung 2022

Generating energy with lunar rock

Press Release / June 17, 2022

Living on the Moon? This may perhaps sound somewhat unrealistic today, but the urbanization of the Moon is one of the future topics in space travel. Limited resources on the Moon, the lack of fossil fuels, and extreme conditions such as very high and very low temperatures and a different day/night rhythm necessitate new ideas for energy supply and for the production of the required components and parts. The Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST is developing new concepts in order to secure the energy supply by means of lunar resources. At the ILA in Berlin from 22 to 26 June 2022, visitors can obtain an overview of current projects and ideas.

Last modified: June 17, 2022

In order for the urbanization of the Moon to become feasible in the future, a number of issues still need to be addressed. For example, the day/night rhythm on the Moon is very different from that on Earth. The Moon rotates on its own axis once every four weeks - one lunar day therefore lasts about two weeks, and the lunar night is equally long. Temperatures on the Moon fluctuate dramatically between -170 °C and +120 °C. Furthermore, fossil fuels, which would enable a long-term energy supply – e.g. during the ice-cold and dark lunar nights – do not exist there. The Fraunhofer IST is therefore working on the development of alternative concepts for a carbon-free energy supply which can also be implemented on Earth.

© Fraunhofer IST
The Fraunhofer IST is working on solution approaches for a sustainable and secure energy supply by means of lunar resources on the Moon.

The energy storage systems must be developed using the materials available on the Moon. The so-called lunar regolith, a loose rock on the surface of the Moon, forms the starting point for this. Iron powder can be extracted from it, which can be used as fuel, similar to coal on Earth. For a short-term energy supply, so-called redox flow batteries are conceivable, which can also be made from regolith. Hydrogen peroxide can also be produced on the Moon; in high concentrations, it would be suitable as fuel for rockets or vehicles such as rovers.

At the international aerospace exhibition ILA from 22 to 26 June 2022 (Hall 6, Stand 330), the Fraunhofer IST, as a member of the AVIATION & SPACE alliance, will be presenting various solution approaches for a sustainable and secure energy supply on the Moon. Furthermore, at the Fraunhofer joint stand, the institute will be exhibiting surface technology for additively manufactured components made from plastic, ultra-precise optical interference filters for space applications, and waveguides made from metallized CFRP, which were manufactured for the antennas of the Sentinel Mission.

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The Fraunhofer IST at the Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung 2022

Generating energy with lunar rock

The Fraunhofer IST at the ILA 2022

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Dr. Simone Kondruweit-Reinema