What about the Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator.
Where's the Ka-Boom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering Ka-Boom.
Posted on 06/04/2010 8:55:37 PM PDT by mainsail that
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Shimizu Corporation, a Japanese construction firm, has recently proposed a plan to harness solar energy on a larger scale than almost any previously proposed concept. Their ambitious plan involves building a belt of solar cells around the Moon’s 6,800-mile (11,000-kilometer) equator, converting the electricity to powerful microwaves and lasers to be beamed at Earth, and finally converting the beams back to electricity at terrestrial power stations. The Luna Ring concept, the company says, could meet the entire world's energy needs.
Shimizu envisions that robots would play a vital role in building the Luna Ring. Teleoperated 24 hours a day from the Earth, the robots would perform tasks such as ground leveling and assembling machines and equipment, which would be done in space before landing them on the Moon. A team of astronauts would support the robots on-site.
Due to the massive amount of solar panels and other materials needed for the project, Shimizu proposes that lunar resources should be used to the fullest extent possible. The company’s plans call for producing water by reducing lunar soil with hydrogen imported from Earth. Lunar resources could also be used to make cementing material and concrete, while solar-heat treatments could help produce bricks, glass fibers, and other structural materials needed for the project.
The Luna Ring itself would initially have a width of a few kilometers, but could be extended up to 400 kilometers wide. The electric power generated by the solar cells would be transmitted by electric cables to transmission facilities on the near side of the Moon, which is constantly facing Earth. After the electricity is converted into microwave beams and laser beams, 20-kilometer-diameter antennas would beam the power to receivers on Earth. A guidance radio beacon would ensure accurate transmission to the receivers. The energy would then be converted back to electricity and supplied to grids, or possibly converted to hydrogen for fuel or storage.
Shimizu points out that one of the biggest advantages of the Luna Ring is that, since the Moon has virtually no atmosphere, there is no bad weather or clouds that could inhibit the efficiency of the solar panels. As such, the Luna Ring achieves 24/7 continuous clean energy generation, potentially ending our reliance on limited natural resources.
That would ruin my plans. I was hoping to put a giant lazer on the moon and threaten to fry North Korea unless they gave me all their kimche.
So we take a technology that is at its very, very best 40% efficient, then transform that electricity into microwaves and beam it back to earth losing 90% of the energy from a place where it costs $$$millions per pound to get something there. I’d hire new accountants for this, it don’t pencil out.
What about the Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator.
Where's the Ka-Boom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering Ka-Boom.
TANSTAAFL :-)
“Japanese firm wants to transform the Moon into a giant solar power plant”
The Earth already is a giant solar power plant. It’s just that we haven’t learned to harness the tremendous amount of energy that is available.
I’m sure it was his idea.
Big time, and welcome aboard.
Isn’t that why God put the moon there?.. For us to exploit?
lol... thats gonna take one hell of a long extension cord!
"Attention Earth. You bill is past due"...
“watching way too much anime”
DING DING DING.
This plan might even work, if we had a spare $100 trillion.
“then transform that electricity into microwaves and beam it back to earth losing 90% of the energy”
Where is the biggest loss, to convert or transport?
darn and I am tapped out. The whole world is tapped out at the moment.
I’m sure libs in this country will happily sell the moon in my name to pay for their re-elections.
They’re just gonna use it to zap whales, remotely. Just you wait and see!
Yea, let’s just build solar collectors around the entire moon and connect the all to the transmitter that it is always facing the earth. That should only cost $13,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or so and take about 1000 years.
Let's spend entire Gross National Product quantities of money to generate “free” electricity, not just thousands of miles away from where we need it, but hundreds of thousands of miles straight up, on freaking another planet (well, not technically, but it's my rant so I'm going with “planet”)!!!! And then just “beam” it back to Earth from outer space - because all the energy to do that is “free” too. What's the worst that could happen?
I mean really, why should we even bother to use the resources we have at hand (abundant resources too BTW - in spite of AlGore’s histrionics to the contrary), right here on our own world, when we can simply harness all that great free solar energy on another one, one that's even closer to the source (except for the other half of the day, I guess).
Maybe if they could actually figure out how to “beam” energy all the way from outer space, they should do it here first, to see if it's even technically feasible, sufficiently energy-efficient (bet not!!), and cost-effective (bet not again!!). Maybe see if they can get the power from those effectively useless windmill farms out in the middle of nowhere (where there's little or no demand), and beam it over to the cities where we actually need it?
Is there a lot of Crack in Japan? I mean really - the last time those guys fooled around with this kind of advanced technology, Godzilla destroyed half of Tokyo!!!!
My first thought also. There will be something about the "fragile" and "pristine" lunar environment.
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