| Popis: |
Oxygen production from lunar raw materials is critical for sustaining a manned lunar base but is very power intensive. Solar concentrators are a well-researched and developed technology for harnessing the sun’s energy to heat regolith to high temperatures (over 1273K). The high temperature and potential material incompatibilities present numerous technical challenges. This study compares and contrasts different solar concentrator designs that have been developed, such as Cassegrains, offset parabolas, compound parabolic concentrators, and secondary concentrators. Differences between concentrators made from lenses and mirrors, and differences between rigid and flexible concentrators are also compared. Possible substrate elements for a rigid mirror concentrator are chosen and discussed, with the following criteria: low CTE, high modulus of elasticity, and low density. Possible lunar locations for concentrator technology are also compared and contrasted. Several environmental and processing-related challenges related to dust and optical surfaces are addressed. This paper also examines the various sources of thermal energy that can be utilized for ISRU applications on the lunar surface. These include heat from nuclear and electric sources and solar concentrators. The options for collecting and transporting the heat to the processing reactor for each source are examined. The overall system requirements for each thermal source are compared and the system limitations, such as maximum achievable temperature are discussed. |
