Posted on 04/16/2002 9:45:39 AM PDT by RightWhale
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=8025
PRESS RELEASE
Date Released: Monday, April 15, 2002
American Institute of Physics
Getting power from the moon
If a physicist in Houston has his way youíll be able to say good-bye to pollution-causing energy production from fossil fuels. In the April/May issue of The Industrial Physicist Dr. David Criswell suggests that the Earth could be getting all of the electricity it needs using solar cells - on the moon.
In the article Criswell proposes a Lunar Solar Power (LSP) System, using arrays of solar cells on the lunar surface to beam energy back to Earth. Criswell estimates that the 10 billion people living on Earth in 2050 will require 20 Terrawatts (TW) of power. The Moon receives 13,000 TW of power from the sun. Criswell suggests that harnessing just 1% of the solar power and directing it toward Earth could replace fossil fuel power plants on Earth.
"The lunar operations are primarily industrial engineering," says Criswell. He and Dr, Robert Waldron first described LSP in 1984 at a NASA symposium on Lunar Bases and Space Activities in the 21st Century. "Adequate knowledge of the moon and practical technologies have been available since the late 1970ís to collect this power and beam it to Earth. The system can be built on the moon from lunar materials and operated on the moon and on Earth using existing technologies," reducing the expenses associated with transporting materials to the moon. He adds that LSP would be even cheaper if parts of the production machinery are designed to be made of lunar materials.
The LSP system consists of 20-40 lunar power bases, situated on the eastern and western edges of the moon, as seen from Earth. Each power base has a series of solar cells to collect energy from the sun, which is sent over buried electric wires to microwave generators that convert the solar electricity to microwaves. The generators then send the energy to screens that reflect the microwave beams toward Earth, where they are received by arrays of special antennas strategically placed about the globe. "Each antenna converts the microwave power to electricity that is fed into the local power grid," says Criswell.
"LSP is probably the only option for powering a prosperous world within the 21st century," says Criswell. "However, it does require a return to the moon." The system depends on some human occupation of the moon to build and run the lunar bases, but Criswell also sees this as an opportunity. "Once we are back and operating at large scale then going down the various learning curves will make traveling to the moon and working there ëroutine."
Granted, but the author doesn't say that --- he says it might be possible that some parts be made from native materials.
I'm skeptical myself --- this sounds like an impossible task to make everything from scratch. How much labor do you think it would take?
How many men, all needing support from Earth, for how many years?
I'm not saying it can't or shouldn't be done --- but I expect most of the parts will have to be made here on Earth.
Consider the tidal forces the earth exerts on the moon, and how they would affect large solar arrays.
Consider the transport cost to a facility 280,000 miles away instead of 23,000, at the bottom of a gravity well instead of on top.
The moon could be re-inhabited in the future, but only as a source of raw material for orbiting facilities (MHO).
It's just an engineering problem. Let the engineering department work up a solution or two and put a price on it.
Criswell, eh? That name is familiar. The original "Criswell" was a phony psychic-prognosticator of the mid and late 1950's, noted for his bizarre and highly inaccurate predictions. Didn't he hook up with the famous director Ed Wood for some of his screen gems?
Two legs bad. Four legs good.
Two legs bad. Four legs good.
Two legs bad. Four legs good.
The entire solar system all the way to the heliopause is ours. There is no Palestine, there is no Israel, there is no Egypt, no America, no China. These exist in mind only. But there is General Motors, IBM, Sony, Monsanto. The moon belongs to Consolidated Edison.
Both expensive and pointless.
-Fairbanks, Alaska
As an Industrial Engineer, I'm professionally qualified to assert that Criswell has his head inserted up his sphincter orifice.
LOL! Think about the terrestrial power recovery requirements here.
First: the power density of the microwave beams has to be really low, meaning that the receiver must cover a very large area. Any gaps in the coverage area count as a direct efficiency loss.
Second: The earth rotates. For a fixed site, the maximum power comes when the moon is directly overhead, and drops off as the cosine of latitude, and also as the cosine of the Earth's rotation away from the sub-lunar point. This also means that there is still a requirement for terrestrial power production, to level out the rotation-related fluctuations.
Third: The moon's orbit is inclined something like 4 degrees from the equator, so the optimal power recovery scenario places the receiving stations on the equator. This puts your "strategically placed antennae" in countries and continents on which you don't want to rely on for your power. Not to mention that you've got to run high power lines from there to here to put it on the local grid.
Fourth: If you decide to place your antennae at higher latitudes, you've still only got visibility to the moon for half the day -- IOW, you still need to maintain the current terrestrial energy production capability.
Fifth: It seems to me that the microwave transmissions would be somewhat absorbed by cloud cover.
Not to mention all of the political side-effects, not least of which is the fact that somebody is sure to make the connection between microwave ovens and microwave power transmission. And I can't find much reason argue with them about it.
Oooh. Very subtle reference. I wonder if I'm the only other person who got it?
This is Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone. . .Mayday, Mayday. . . we are under attack. . . main drive is gone. . turret number one not responding . . . Mayday. . . losing cabin pressure fast. . .calling anyone. . .please help. . . This is Free Trader Beowulf. . . Mayday. .
Darn, now you've made me feel nostalgic. Maybe I need to suggest running a Traveller game for my group...
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