Scientists seek way to 3D print energy storage devices from materials on hand on Moon

A team of scientists from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and Youngstown State University (YSU), in collaboration with NASA experts, is developing a way to 3D print energy storage devices from materials on hand on the Moon. The project, which is estimated at $2.5 million, aims to provide energy to astronauts who will fly to the Moon and Mars in the future.

During such missions, energy will be required for the operation of the rovers, heating and lighting of the shelters and laboratories, experiments, and many other things. Solar panels will provide that energy, but it will be difficult and expensive to supply accumulators for them from Earth, so scientists want to find a way to carry out the production of panels on the spot.

Eric MacDonald, Professor Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Associate Dean of the UTEP College of Engineering, notes that the results of this potentially groundbreaking research can be used not only in space missions, but also on Earth.

Also, scientists want to find a way to produce batteries of any shape, so that they can later be embedded in the walls of residential buildings or inside other equipment to save space.

Within this project, scientists are considering two methods of 3D printing in space.

The first method involves material extrusion, during which the 3D printer outputs the product in its final form.

The second method, the vat photopolymerization or VPP, involves using a vat of photopolymer resin to build the object layer by layer.

But there are issues and questions that scientists still need to resolve. Thus, today the main power systems of the International Space Station use lithium-ion energy storage devices supplied from Earth, but there is too little lithium available for mining on the Moon and Mars. For this reason, experts are investigating the possibility of using sodium ions, which are present in sufficient quantities on both the Moon and Mars. The researchers plan to study the chemistry of sodium ion energy storage devices and possible 3D printing solutions, after which it will be possible to start the tests.

In addition, the persons behind this project plan to work on extracting materials for batteries and sodium-ion battery precursors from lunar and Martian regolith, the surface layer of lunar soil. Scientists have already developed and used VPP 3D printing to create composite resin raw materials for each part of the proposed energy storage units—electrodes, electrolytes, and collectors.