Lunar production of solar cells

The feasibility of manufacturing of solar cells on the moon for spacecraft applications is examined. Because of the much lower escape velocity, there is a great advantage in lunar manufacture of solar cells compared to Earth manufacture. Silicon is abundant on the moon, and new refining methods allow it to be reduced and purified without extensive reliance on materials unavailable on the moon. Silicon and amorphous silicon solar cells could be manufactured on the moon for use in space. Concepts for the production of a baseline amorphous silicon cell are discussed, and specific power levels are calculated for cells designed for both lunar and Earth manufacture

Interfacial Morphology Addresses Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells Based on Composite Hole Transporting Materials of Functionalized Reduced Graphene Oxide and P3HT

The development of novel hole transporting materials (HTMs) for perovskite solar cells (PSCs) that can enhance device's reproducibility is a largely pursued goal, even to the detriment of a very high efficiency, since it paves the way to an effective industrialization of this technology. In this work, we study the covalent functionalization of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) flakes with different organic functional groups with the aim of increasing the stability and homogeneity of their dispersion within a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) HTM. The selected functional groups are indeed those recalling the two characteristic moieties present in P3HT, i.e., the thienyl and alkyl residues. After preparation and characterization of a number of functionalized RGO@P3HT blends, we test the two containing the highest percentage of dispersed RGO as HTMs in PSCs and compare their performance with that of pristine P3HT and of the standard Spiro-OMeTAD HTM. Results reveal the big influence of the morphology adopted by the single RGO flakes contained in the composite HTM in driving the final device performance and allow to distinguish one of these blends as a promising material for the fabrication of highly reproducible PSCs

Affordable Exploration of Mars: Recommendations from a Community Workshop

There is a growing opinion that within two decades initial human missions to Mars are affordable under plausible budget scenarios, with sustained international participation, and --- especially --- without requiring those first missions to achieve a burdensome number of goals. In response to this view, a group of experts from the Mars exploration stakeholder communities attended the "Affording Mars" workshop at George Washington University in December 2013. Participants reviewed scenarios for proposed affordable and sustainable human and robotic exploration of Mars, the role of the International Space Station as the essential early step toward humans to Mars, possible "bridge" or "transition" missions in the 2020s, key capabilities required for affordable initial missions, international partnerships, and usable definitions of affordability and sustainability. We report here the findings, observations, and recommendations that were agreed to at that workshop. In the context of affordable early missions to Mars, we also discuss the recent report of the National Research Council on human space flight and a pair of recent scenarios that appear to promise reduced costs

Exploring planery systems, in the solar system and beyond. The enabling power of international collaboration

How are planetary systems born out of the collapse of interstellar clouds? How does their evolution shape the assembly of planets, satellite systems and small bodies that they host? How may a few of these planets and moons become habitable and possibly host life? Addressing these key science questions from the “Planetary exploration, Horizon 2061” foresight exercise takes a convergence of scientific insight, technical know-how and resources that can be found only via international collaboration. First of all, characterizing the huge diversity of exoplanets and of extrasolar planetary systems discovered in less than 30 years, and detecting a host of new ones, involves the design and operation of giant observatories, both in space and on the ground. In the Solar System itself, the huge diversity of objects (planets, small bodies, moons, rings, magnetospheres…) that populate it can be explored only via a share of targets and efforts at international level, using an equally broad diversity of in-situ or remote sensing measurement techniques paving the way to sample return missions from increasingly farther destinations. Beyond the reach of sample return, the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, the Dwarf planets and icy bodies that populate the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt are mostly unchartered territories. Beyond them, Humankind also needs to accomplish its first steps into the interstellar medium. This essential exploration of the outskirts of the Solar System will require a well-designed coordination of ambitious space missions and of giant Earth-based telescopes. For such a share of targets and missions to produce the best possible science return, scientific data have to be freely distributed amongst all partners via world-class data infrastructures such as the Planetary Data System (https://pds.nasa.gov/) or the Planetary Science Archive (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/psa/psa-introduction). In the same spirit, rules for the curation and distribution of samples returned from the diverse destinations to the worldwide scientific community, currently under definition for the on-going Mars Sample Return campaign, will no doubt be applied to future sample return campaigns from Venus, asteroids, Trojans, comets and the icy satellites of the giant planets. Finally, we wish the building of the cislunar gateway station by a consortium of space agencies, a prelude to the establishment of permanent robotic or human bases on the Moon and later Mars, to be only the first step towards an enhanced and sustainable international collaboration to better understand the fate of planetary systems, of the Solar System, and of our Mother Planet

Lunar astrobiology: a review and suggested laboratory equipment

In October of 2005, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Alcatel Alenia Spazio released a “call to academia for innovative concepts and technologies for lunar exploration.” In recent years, interest in lunar exploration has increased in numerous space programs around the globe, and the purpose of our study, in response to the ESA call, was to draw on the expertise of researchers and university students to examine science questions and technologies that could support human astrobiology activity on the Moon. In this mini review, we discuss astrobiology science questions of importance for a human presence on the surface of the Moon and we provide a summary of key instrumentation requirements to support a lunar astrobiology laboratory

Peritoneal tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis with peritoneal carcinomatosis: case report and literature review

Tuberculosis is a severe public health problem in developing countries, but it is taking on the characteristics of a global epidemic. By virtue of migration flows, in fact, we are observing a resurgence of this disease in western countries, in all its forms including the genital one. The problem became more serious with the emergence of multidrug-resistant mutant (MDR) strains of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. In this paper we describe a case of peritoneal tuberculosis, whose diagnosis was histologically made after laparoscopic examination. Laparoscopy proved crucial for the differential diagnosis with peritoneal carcinomatosis, particularly following the discrepancy in the results provided by ultrasound and Computerized Tomography (CT) examinations. These two diseases are, in fact, very different in their pathogenesis, but above all in their treatment options and prognostic outcomes. Genital tuberculosis is a major cause of severe tubal disease leading to infertility. Unlike pulmonary tuberculosis, its clinical diagnosis is difficult because in most of cases genital tuberculosis can be asymptomatic or have a large variety of clinical features. © Copyright 2012, CIC Edizioni Internazionali, Rome