Background Research

In a 250 watt per hour panel, in 4 hours it makes an average 1 kilowatt. 

406543.7468 solar panels are needed to power Tokyo.

How much daylight do we get?

  • 1 day = 24 hours
  • 24 hours - 8 hours night = 16 hours daylight
  • 12 hours @ 50% power
  • 4 hours @ 100% power

  • We need 32 acres of solar panels for 1 city.

Solar Energy on the Moon

The reason we don't see the moon completely is because the earth is always pointing at the same half of the moon, which means that we cannot see the whole of the moon.

Collecting Solar Energy from the Moon

The diameter of the moon is 3474.2 km. 185.8061 square meters (2000 square feet) of solar panels will produce 1000 kilowatts. The solar panels laid on the ground can connect to the underground wires to send the electricity to regular homes and apartments.

1. Cars to collect energy

1: What kind of energy are we using? 
  • Solar energy. There is a lot of sunlight and a lot of space for solar panels on the moon.
2: How are we going to gather it?
  • Using solar panels. Solar panels transform solar energy into electricity by separating the atoms from the electrons.

2. Satellites to send energy

We can use a satellite to collect energy with solar panels and store it in a battery.

This is prototype 1. we won't use it because the battery doesn't   fit in the bottom.

We will use Solar panels. A solar panel makes electricity out of the energy from the sun.

3. Storage

We will store electrons by keeping them in areas that let electrons go out and/or stop them going out.

Solar energy is not the most efficient type of energy, but when all of the moon is lit up and if all the solar panels were producing 320 watts, they produce 1111.744 KW. 

Our Designs

We made all of our designs in TinkerCad.

1. Cars to collect energy

Our car has solar panels on all sides. The solar panels are very high up and away from the wheels. This means that it can drive around on the moon and it will not get stuck in the big craters on the moon.

2. Satellites to send energy

Our satellite has a detachable battery that can be used to collect and move solar energy between places that are really far away. The battery can come off and be sent back down to the ground. After that, a new battery can be sent up to the satellite and plug in to the socket on the bottom.

3. Storage

The batteries from the satellites will dock in the storage center so that the electricity from the solar energy can be used by people. There is a space for the battery from the satellite, a big storage battery, and a power grid for the electricity to be sent to apartments and buildings.

Finished Prototypes

Here are our finished prototypes. We think these designs can be used to make efficient solar energy systems in the future by collecting solar energy from the moon that can be used in the big cities.