CORE BUSINESS
The core business of Maana Electric is the development of dual use applications integrating In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) concepts and sustainability/power systems technologies, with the aim to become the utility company of the solar system. We use our proprietary ISRU technologies originally thought for the space industry to revolutionize the way in which solar panels are produced, on Earth and in space. MaanaBoxes are automated and transportable production facilities using only locally available materials and solar electricity to produce fully functioning solar panels from sand on Earth, and regolith on the Moon or Mars. Within the MaanaBox family, the TerraBox is specifically designed for large-scale utility solar farms in desert land areas, and the LunaBox designed for the Moon to enable the development of a lunar economy.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
The ISRU technologies developed at Maana Electric enable the manufacturing of products from the raw materials potentially available in the low value feedstock such as desert send (such as silicon, aluminum, iron, precious metals) and regolith (silicon, aluminum, iron, titanium). The MaanaBoxes allow to produce:
- Solar cells (for terrestrial & space applications)
- Solar panels (for terrestrial & space applications)
- Glass panes and components
In addition, Maana Electric is constantly exploring other domains of applicability of the ISRU technologies developed for MaanaBox programme. The implementation of Maana’s ISRU concepts can help:
- On Earth, in cost reduction or limiting footprint and environmental impact of traditional industrial processes such as mining, metallurgy, semiconductors, etc.
- On the Moon, in facilitating the exploitation of resources to support lunar colonization.
TECHNICAL MEANS
Maana Electric focused from the very beginning on a rapid prototyping approach with the development of inhouse capabilities oriented to independent manufacturing, testing and analysis/characterization. This allowed Maana Electric to fast progress and develop a wide range and multisectoral expertise. Our >2000 m2 facilities currently host:
- 100 m2 dedicated to metallurgical testing.
- 70 m2 dedicated to sand and regolith processing.
- 91 m2 ISO-8 clean room and 34 m2 ISO-7 clean room for photovoltaic processes.
- 900 m2 of machining area and prototype AIT workshop.
In addition Maana Electric is equipped with a many testing devices for fundamental material science and semiconductor physics and tools for analysis and materials characterization (XRF, Raman spectroscopy, FTIR, metallography, profilometer, sun simulator and several other developed inhouse).
MAJOR SPACE PROJECTS
Maana Electric’s vision focusses on the building green and sustainable power infrastructures for those who have less immediate access to resources (i.e. remote areas) with limited footprint and environmental impact. This reflects also in the idea of building power infrastructure on the Moon. This is accomplished through in-space validation/demonstration of the ISRU technologies by dedicated space and lunar payloads currently under development at Maana Electric.
In addition, we are expanding our portfolio with several power and ISRU technology demonstrators designed to support the development of lunar power infrastructure and support off-Earth exploration and manufacturing (LEO, Moon and other planets).
