Review on Solar Thermochemical Processing for Lunar Applications and Their Heat Transfer Modeling Methods

Abstract

Harnessing concentrated high-flux solar energy to drive thermal processes over 1000 °C for fuel production and material processing has great potential to address environmental issues associated with fossil fuels. There is now also interest in solar thermal processing under extraterrestrial (e.g., lunar) conditions, which has the potential to provide materials and power for future space exploration and base construction with local resources as feedstock. In this review article, the recent progress on conventional solar thermochemical systems used for lunar production is reviewed. Important results are discussed to identify the applicability of existing devices and models at lunar conditions. Finally, the challenges ahead and promising directions are presented.