Blue Origin has revealed that the company’s in-space resource utilization system, Blue Alchemist, has successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR), marking a transformative milestone toward humanity’s permanent expansion beyond Earth— the breakthrough technology aims to turn the Moon, and eventually Mars, into self-sustaining worlds where robots and humans can go beyond visiting and truly explore, grow, live, and thrive.
Blue Origin’s Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) reactor.
Blue Alchemist represents a fundamental shift in space exploration; instead of hauling materials from Earth at enormous cost, future missions will build what they need using resources found on the Moon or Mars. The system transforms regolith into solar power systems, breathable oxygen, propellant-grade oxygen for refueling, metals, and construction materials – all critical elements and systems needed for near-term, low-cost, and sustainable bases, growing settlements, and eventual cities.
The CDR success confirms Blue Alchemist is ready for its next phase: autonomous demonstration in a simulated lunar environment in 2026. Once implemented, Blue Alchemist technology will enable:
- Breathable oxygen to support multiple astronauts for short to extended missions on the lunar surface
- Low-cost lunar and cislunar exploration refueled with oxygen from regolith, with immediate cost reduction opportunities
- Near-term economic transformation of space exploration through sustainable commercial ventures
- Permanent robotic and human lunar settlements powered entirely by locally made solar arrays
- Mars habitation and exploration using the same resource transformation principles
- Deep space exploration with refueling and resupply stations built from lunar regolith, and later asteroid materials
The process produces critical elements for planetary infrastructure, oxygen for breathing, rocket fuel, metals for construction and electronics, glass for windows and solar panel covers, and the solar cells and connecting wire to power it all. Blue Origin is on track to organically scale the firm’s system to make lunar landings as much as 60% cheaper and reduce fuel cell/battery masses by up to 70% by refueling those systems with regolith-derived oxygen on the Moon. Materials such as iron, silicon, glasses, and ceramics are extracted from the firm’s Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) reactor.
Blue Alchemist is being built at Blue Origin’s Space Resources Center of Excellence (SRCE), the world’s largest dedicated facility for space resources prospecting and utilization. The campus spans 3 acres and houses 60,000 square feet of lab space. Over 65 experts across all disciplines enable us to develop the technologies to find and utilize space resources and infuse those technologies back on Earth to solve modern-day challenges.
This end-to-end capability represents more than a technological breakthrough to advance space exploration; the applications of this technology for Earth are equally transformative. Blue Alchemist offers a zero-carbon, environmentally friendly solar cell manufacturing process using feedstocks such as desert sand. It also enables the production of critical minerals, including multiple metals and semiconductors (e.g., silicon), from unconventional, lower-cost ores.
Blue Alchemist changes everything about how we approach space. It is the foundation for a sustainable robotic and human presence across the solar system,” said Pat Remias, Vice President, Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering. “Each kilogram of oxygen we make on the lunar surface is one less that we have to launch from Earth, making it a giant leap toward permanent settlements as well as critical resources for transportation to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
Blue Alchemist is Blue Origin’s end-to-end, scalable system for turning lunar regolith into solar cells, power transmission wire, silicon, metals, and oxygen. Using molten regolith electrolysis, the process applies an electrical current to separate oxygen from metals such as iron, aluminum, and silicon, all without water, toxic chemicals, or carbon emissions. The silicon is refined to the high purity needed for efficient, radiation-resistant solar cells, while the oxygen can support life support systems, fuel cell regeneration, or be used as rocket propellant. By building these essential resources directly from local materials, Blue Alchemist removes the need to haul vast supplies from Earth, making sustained lunar presence and Mars exploration possible. Blue Alchemist is supported by a NASA Tipping Point award through the agency’s Game Changing Development program, managed by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.