Artificial intelligence has developed a device that turns moon dust into energy.
Moon Vacuum published by Blue Origin on Wednesday. AmazonThe re:Invent 2025 conference in Las Vegas was built using key technology from startup Istari Digital.
“So we could suck up lunar dust, extract heat from it, and use it as an energy source, such as by turning lunar dust into batteries,” Istari CEO Will Roper told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan.
Spacecraft performing missions on the moon are typically confined to lunar nights. There are two weeks of moonlit nights every 28 days, during which the moon is shrouded in darkness and temperatures drop so drastically that without a strong, long-lasting power source, hardware can become damaged and unusable.
“It’s similar to vacuuming at home, but you create your own electricity while vacuuming,” he added.
Roper said the battery was designed entirely by AI. Roper served as assistant secretary of the Air Force during President Donald Trump’s first term and is credited with transforming the acquisition process for both the Air Force and the then-new Space Force.
A major part of Istari’s technological advances is how it handles and limits AI hallucinations.
Roper said the platform meets all the requirements for a part that creates guardrails or “fences around the playground” that the AI can’t walk away from when coming up with a design.
“Within that playground, AI can generate as much as it wants,” he said.
“In the case of Blue Origin’s lunar battery, we can’t say it was a good design, but it does show us that all the requirements were met, standards were met, etc. that we need to make sure before we put it into operation,” he added.
Istari is backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and is already working with the U.S. government and as a prime contractor. lockheed martin On the experimental unmanned aerial vehicle x-56A.
Listen to the full interview above and dig deeper into Starr’s business on her podcast, Manifest Space.
