May be within one year from now or less.

According to NASA sources, the idea of generating power directly from lunar light—harvesting the faint light reflected off the Moon—is not something we’ve practically achieved. Moonlight is simply a reflection of sunlight and is minuscule in power compared to the sun’s direct rays. Under a full moon, moonlight supplies only about 0.1–0.3 lux of illuminance versus roughly 100,000 lux from direct sunlight. This enormous difference in light intensity makes moonlight far too weak to serve as a practical or efficient energy source for power generation.

In contrast, when we discuss power generation in lunar contexts, the focus is entirely on capturing and using direct sunlight on the Moon’s surface. Research related to lunar power generation—especially in support of future lunar bases under programs like Artemis—has centered on overcoming challenges posed by the Moon’s long cycles of illumination and darkness. For instance, NASA has examined solar array deployments for the lunar surface and proposed concepts such as the “Light Bender.” This concept involves using mirrors to reflect sunlight into permanently shadowed or poorly illuminated regions of a lunar base to support power distribution, addressing the challenge of providing reliable energy in areas that don’t always see direct sunlight.

So, to directly answer your question: we have not been generating power from lunar light (in the sense of harvesting the ambient light reflected off the Moon) because its energy density is incredibly low. Instead, our efforts have—and continue to—focus on harnessing direct solar energy, whether on Earth or in future lunar installations.

Exploring Further: While moonlight itself isn’t a viable energy source, the engineering challenges of power generation on the Moon create fascinating new avenues. Researchers are studying innovative methods like the “Light Bender” and other power-beaming or mirror-based relay systems to distribute sunlight across areas that might otherwise be starved of energy due to the Moon’s topography or its day–night cycles. There’s also active research on combining solar with nuclear power technologies to create robust and redundant energy systems for lunar outposts. These efforts are setting the stage for sustainable long-term operations on the Moon and offer interesting parallels to cutting-edge distributed solar grid concepts on Earth.