Washington, May 7 (EUROPE PRESS) – Texas A&M University’s College of Engineering has teamed up with NASA’s Langley Research Center to design reflectors that redirect solar energy into lunar craters.
Near the south pole of the Moon is a crater 21 kilometers wide and 4 kilometers deep known as Shackleton, named after Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton (and similar craters) may contain untapped resources that can be accessed through lunar mining.
Solar energy is the optimal energy source for lunar energy mining because it does not need to be transported from Earth, but is emitted directly from the Sun. The problem with using solar energy inside craters is that even during a lunar day, some craters can be in complete shadow.
“If you put a reflector on the rim of the crater and have a collector in the center of the crater that receives sunlight, you can harness solar energy,” explains Professor Darren Hartl, who is leading the project. “So you’re kind of deflecting the sunlight towards the crater.
This research is still in its early stages, and researchers are using computer modeling systems to design various reflector designs. The models show that a parabolic shape is optimal for maximizing the amount of light reflected from the bottom of craters.
One of the main technical challenges facing Hartl and his team is limiting the payloads of space missions. The goal is to create a reflector compact enough for space travel and large enough to serve as an effective reflector.
To meet both requirements, the researchers are using a self-transforming material developed by Hartle and other Texas A&M engineers.
“During space missions, astronauts may need to deploy a large parabolic reflector from a relatively small and light landing system. That’s where we come in,” Hartl said. “We are studying the use of shape memory materials that will change the shape of the reflector in response to temperature changes in the system.”
