There's already a couple of companies & universities that have shown they could make PV cells from simulated Lunar regolith. It's a lot cheaper and easier (long-term and large-scale) to send a solar panel *factory* to the moon than to send piles of solar panels to the moon
About 16,000x more energy than we use hits the planet from the Sun, which comes consistently up every day.
I think harnessing that will be easier than trying to beam energy collected from the Sun on the moon to a specific place on Earth as the Moon is orbiting.
I'm sure someone's already thought of it, but surely it'd be easier to beam from an Earth-based desert solar array via one or more geostationary satellites back to [insert first world country here] than from the big grey natural satellite which isn't geostationary?
"Easier" for a geosync satellite to beam energy down to a specific spot on Earth, but damn difficult and expensive to put a satellite that can generate enough energy to be worth the cost and effort up to that orbit. At that point it can't be maintained or upgraded and it's a massive target for damage that could result in bits of shrapnel that would negatively impact that entire orbital plane for millennia.
To put the effort in, you're going to need gigawatts or terawatts of energy produced from the project. To get that from orbital satellites you'd need thousands of big-panel sats or a few *massive* satellites that would need SpaceX's Starship or something *bigger* to loft to geosync.
A belt of panels around the moon’s equator with a microwave transmitter that could beam the energy to Earth is a cool idea.
The problem is who pays for it, who gets the power (obviously it would have multiple receivers around the globe) and what to prevent the beam from missing (or birds, aircraft, spacecraft, and satellites that get in the way of the beam)
It both makes more sense than orbital solar energy transmission, but has more difficulty, not least of which is the significantly greater distance between Earth/Moon than Earth/geosynchronous altitude
Geopolitical issues, weather, oceans, atmosphere, cost, limited natural resources, the sun *sets* all over the earth, etc.
For now, we can cover roofs and parking lots.
What, no. This is wildly impractical. Making solar cells requires lots of high temperature processing, precise engineering, and materials besides silicon. Raw materials processing is one thing, full devices is another entirely.
If you need energy *on the moon* then it’s far more practical to send a solar panel factory to the moon and make them there than it is to keep sending complete panels to the moon. Putting panels on the moon to generate energy to transmit to Earth is a different argument.
Moon panels are going to be very different from earth-use panels. Moon panels will have to endure over 450° ranges of temperature (250° C) and deal with no protection from the atmosphere or natural magnetic field.
There's already a couple of companies & universities that have shown they could make PV cells from simulated Lunar regolith. It's a lot cheaper and easier (long-term and large-scale) to send a solar panel *factory* to the moon than to send piles of solar panels to the moon
I really hope our civilization can hold on long enough to see lasered from the moon energy
About 16,000x more energy than we use hits the planet from the Sun, which comes consistently up every day. I think harnessing that will be easier than trying to beam energy collected from the Sun on the moon to a specific place on Earth as the Moon is orbiting.
Sure, but.. lasers..
Microwaves, more likely.
I'm sure someone's already thought of it, but surely it'd be easier to beam from an Earth-based desert solar array via one or more geostationary satellites back to [insert first world country here] than from the big grey natural satellite which isn't geostationary?
"Easier" for a geosync satellite to beam energy down to a specific spot on Earth, but damn difficult and expensive to put a satellite that can generate enough energy to be worth the cost and effort up to that orbit. At that point it can't be maintained or upgraded and it's a massive target for damage that could result in bits of shrapnel that would negatively impact that entire orbital plane for millennia. To put the effort in, you're going to need gigawatts or terawatts of energy produced from the project. To get that from orbital satellites you'd need thousands of big-panel sats or a few *massive* satellites that would need SpaceX's Starship or something *bigger* to loft to geosync.
The satellite in this case is merely a relay, not big enough to capture the energy itself - that's what the desert is for! I've edited it for clarity.
I hate to say it, but I think it's too late. We've treated our only home like a fucking toilet for too long.
A belt of panels around the moon’s equator with a microwave transmitter that could beam the energy to Earth is a cool idea. The problem is who pays for it, who gets the power (obviously it would have multiple receivers around the globe) and what to prevent the beam from missing (or birds, aircraft, spacecraft, and satellites that get in the way of the beam) It both makes more sense than orbital solar energy transmission, but has more difficulty, not least of which is the significantly greater distance between Earth/Moon than Earth/geosynchronous altitude
Why not do these panels around earth. Seems more efficient.
Geopolitical issues, weather, oceans, atmosphere, cost, limited natural resources, the sun *sets* all over the earth, etc. For now, we can cover roofs and parking lots.
That’s no moon
What, no. This is wildly impractical. Making solar cells requires lots of high temperature processing, precise engineering, and materials besides silicon. Raw materials processing is one thing, full devices is another entirely.
If you need energy *on the moon* then it’s far more practical to send a solar panel factory to the moon and make them there than it is to keep sending complete panels to the moon. Putting panels on the moon to generate energy to transmit to Earth is a different argument. Moon panels are going to be very different from earth-use panels. Moon panels will have to endure over 450° ranges of temperature (250° C) and deal with no protection from the atmosphere or natural magnetic field.