News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into Orbit. Parent comment

Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by josh11b on Thursday January 05, 2023 @01:41PM (#34264423)
There is no place on the moon that isn't in shadow 14 days at a time. https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2022/07/03/powering-the-l...
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by amelius on Thursday January 05, 2023 @01:50PM (#34264555)
Near the poles?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by Fordec on Thursday January 05, 2023 @01:55PM (#34264647)
Only works if your bases are at the poles. Which for some missions works, but it's a limitation if your project needs to be anywhere else.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by Nomentatus on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:22PM (#34265076)
https://futurism.com/the-byte/harvard-super-tall-towers-powe...

There's a famous-in-the-area ex-NASA blogger with good (not perfect) articles on the topic, but I can't Google and find him 'cause authoritative institutions now seems to trump and drown out mere experts on Google.

Others here cite him: https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2019/08/17/blog-series-co...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by TaylorAlexander on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:19PM (#34265034)
Maybe use solar panels to split lunar ice water in to hydrogen and oxygen, then use that to run fuel cells in the dark periods.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by LarryMullins on Thursday January 05, 2023 @04:04PM (#34266549)
14 days of lunar night would get quite cold. Maybe you could use the bases' water tanks as thermal batteries.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by Nomentatus on Thursday January 05, 2023 @02:36PM (#34265298)
Tall lunar pole towers: https://futurism.com/the-byte/harvard-super-tall-towers-powe...

Maybe better: nuke the moon and reduce a few key crater rims, then use much shorter towers. Could be that a series of regular bombs might be more effective and less likely to "alarm the horses (general public.)"

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by ehnto on Friday January 06, 2023 @03:28AM (#34272353)
Given the satellites need to be geostationary, don't they have the same issue? I know due to the higher altitude you would get more time in the sun but I feel like even one to two days would be too much distruption (2 days battery storage would be crazy expensive to send up but maybe that equation changes one day)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by napier on Friday January 06, 2023 @03:31AM (#34272372)
Beam the power around the moon from where it's sunny at any given time to wherever needs it, using phased array orbital substation reciever-transmitters. No atmospheric interference to result in high rates of transmission loss. Might prove cost efficient.
[ Parent | on HN ]