TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INSTRUMENTATION AND TESTING - Preferred Composition: The apparatus further comprises: a counterflow heat exchanger having first and second passages operably connected to receive, respectively, the feedstock and at least one of the output chemical and the byproduct chemical, exchanging heat to the feedstock; a heat exchanger having a wall, dividing first and second passages, across which energy is transferred from the byproduct chemical to the feedstock to recycle energy from the byproduct chemical to pre-heat the feedstock; a heat exchanger operably connected to the conduit to remove heat from the output chemical and reduce the temperature and (C), further including a catalytic surface to convert the output chemical to the storage chemical; and a tracking system to determine and control the orientation of (A) with respect to the sun, a storage system to hold the storage chemical for transport, and a system of heat exchangers to recover thermal energy from at least one of the byproduct chemical and the output chemical into the feedstock to improve the energy efficiency of the apparatus. Preferred Components: An energetic material has a characteristic from explosive, readily combustible at substantially ambient conditions, readily ignitable by at least one of a spark and a sustained flame at ambient conditions, detonable at conditions corresponding to common transportation and handling, and detonable upon exposure to a shock under ambient conditions. (A) comprises reflector formed to be substantially flat to maintain a diffusion of the energy impinging on the converter. The converter comprises a window formed of a material selected to pass solar radiation and substantially resist passage of the thermal energy re-radiated from the collector. The converter and (C) are integrated with (B) to share a single wall and material common to all. (B) comprises: a porous wall defined by first and second surfaces opposite one another, the first surface bounding a first passage carrying the feedstock, absorbing solar radiation from the collector, converting the solar radiation to thermal energy, and passing the thermal energy into the feedstock; a barrier; semi-permeable having a porosity sized to substantially pass hydrogen and to substantially block oxygen and water from passing; a reaction chamber; a sweep chamber on opposite sides of the barrier, the sweep chamber carrying nitrogen to sweep hydrogen away from the barrier to urge an equilibrium condition producing more hydrogen in the reaction chamber; a scavenger comprising a material reactive with oxygen to remove oxygen from the hydrogen; a binding material to selectively absorb hydrogen to the exclusion of the byproducts; a purge mechanism to recover the hydrogen from the binding material; and a carbon nano-fibers oriented and positioned opposite the water with respect to the first catalyst to filter oxygen from the hydrogen and to draw the hydrogen away from the first catalyst. The porous wall has a porosity selected to pass the output chemical and substantially block passage of the byproduct chemical, the second surface bounds a second passage carrying the output chemical. The converter comprises the first passage and the first surface of the wall, which first passage operates to carry away the byproduct chemical and (C) comprises at least one of the second passage and the second surface of the wall. The converter further comprises a surface having a catalyst disposed to dissociate the first chemical into the output chemical and the byproduct chemical. The barrier has walls defining passages constituting porosity and the first catalyst is coated on the walls. The barrier proximate the sweep chamber is coated with a second catalyst selected to promote reaction of the nitrogen with the hydrogen to form ammonia. The first catalyst is formed as a surface having a porosity sized to pass hydrogen and block oxygen, forming (C) and separator. (C) further comprises a first conduit conducting the output chemical and a sweep chemical, a first catalyst located within the first conduit and selected to react the output chemical and the sweep chemical to form the storage chemical. The output chemical is hydrogen, the sweep chemical is nitrogen, and the storage chemical is ammonia. The first catalyst comprises a metal. The converter comprises a chamber having a wall defined by a porous material having a porosity sized to pass the output chemical and block passage of the feedstock. The wall has first and second surfaces, the second surface operating to convert the solar radiation to thermal energy and being coated with a second catalyst to dissociate the feedstock into hydrogen, as the output chemical, and the byproduct chemical. The first surface is coated with the first catalyst operating to react the output chemical to produce the storage chemical. The wall is formed of a ceramic having the first and second surfaces opposite one another. (A), generator, and (D) are integrated and supported on a movable support to move with one another and the solar collector.