Ilmenite

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FeTiO₃ (Iron titanate, or Iron Titanium oxide)

Ilmenite is a naturally occurring titanium and iron ore. It is named for the location where it was discovered, Ilmen Lake in the Ural Mountains of Russia. It is present in variable quantities on the surface of the moon.

Currently Ilmenite is the most important ore of Titanium in the world and its only competition is rutile. Although rutile has a higher amount of titanium in its makeup, rutile is not concentrated in planet-side igneous deposits like ilmenite and thus is not as useful.

Oxygen can be extracted from ilmenite by reducing the iron content to metallic form by the process of Ilmenite Reduction.

Crystalized Ilmenite is a semiconductor with a bandgap of 2.54 volts. Ilmenite photovoltaic cells would have a greater conversion efficiency then silicon or gallium arsenide in unfiltered solar radiation. Also, they should withstand higher temperature with less radiation damage.

External Links

• Anthony, J. Colozza, Wayne A. Wong, Evaluation of a Stirling Solar Dynamic System for Lunar Oxygen Production, NASA/TM -- 2006-214360
• Amethyst Galleries' Mineral Gallery
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilmenite Wikipedia article on Ilmenite
• e-Rocks.com Ilmenite Mineral Data
• Mindat.org Ilmenite mineral information and data
• Space Solar News Vol. 4 No. 6, Lunar Ilmenite for Solar Cells