Think way out side the box

Could our homes soon be powered by the MOON? Engineers plan to cover satellite in solar panels and beam energy back to Earth

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2515478/Could-homes-soon-powered-MOON-Engineers-plan-cover-satellite-solar-panels-beam-energy-Earth.html#ixzz2m2IK0Zv2

this project sounds like wild fantasy, but in principle it is not impossible. solar panels can be made to any size by adding them together. It would certainly be an energy solution that would be sustainable.
the only problems will be getting it started.
Getting the initial equipment to the moon will be a monumental task but something the world as a whole should invest in.
If our green taxes were going into a project like this people might not be so dismissive of them.
however they would need to construct on the moon panels covering 1712500 square miles.
I am all for it though.
Hope I live long enough to see it

I posted this story a few days back on GLP. My link said it was Japanese scientists that were building this. General concensus was - bad idea. If the panels were directed in a certain way it could create a weapon that would scorch areas of Earth wherever directed. Plus, after Fukushima, I wouldn't trust the Japanese to build a kitchen cabinet!

Tess wrote:I posted this story a few days back on GLP. My link said it was Japanese scientists that were building this.  General concensus was - bad idea.  If the panels were directed in a certain way it could create a weapon that would scorch areas of Earth wherever directed.  Plus, after Fukushima, I wouldn't trust the Japanese to build a kitchen cabinet!

yes it could be used as a weapon, but so can just about anything from a stick to a carrot.
It would be easy enough to build failsafes into the system.

At some point we are going to have to go over to energy generation from the sun and the best way to do that is by solar collectors in space directing it back via microwave.

Most plans I have heard of have relied on collectors being put in orbit, this just takes that concept a step further and makes maintenance a trifle easier.

The technical problems of construction on the moon of course are the limiting factor at the moment. But at some point, unless the luddites get control, there will be a manned presence on the moon, and this will be a excellent way to subsidise that presence.
Of course it all depends on being able to built the factories on the moon, from the moon itself.
What is obvious though is that we as species cannot keep consuming natural resources at an increasing rate and when they run out it will be too late to do anything about it.
Someone has to have the vision and will to do something now to ensure we have a future.

bio fuels were hailed as a way to extend our dependency on oil, however the consequence of that is that people are starving because farming land is being turned over to fuel production and not food.

J F Kennedy said when he became President he wanted to put men on the moon.  Many laughed at him, but within a decade the goal had been achieved.

So I think the dream of the Japanese can happen and probably if the investment is there in quite a short space of time.  No pun intended.

Flap Gallagher wrote:yes it could be used as a weapon, but so can just about anything from a stick to a carrot.
It would be easy enough to build failsafes into the system.

At some point we are going to have to go over to energy generation from the sun and the best way to do that is by solar collectors in space directing it back via microwave.

Most plans I have heard of have relied on collectors being put in orbit, this just takes that concept a step further and makes maintenance a trifle easier.

The technical problems of construction on the moon of course are the limiting factor at the moment. But at some point, unless the luddites get control, there will be a manned presence on the moon, and this will be a excellent way to subsidise that presence.
Of course it all depends on being able to built the factories on the moon, from the moon itself.
What is obvious though is that we as species cannot keep consuming natural resources at an increasing rate and when they run out it will be too late to do anything about it.
Someone has to have the vision and will to do something now to ensure we have a future.

bio fuels were hailed as a way to extend our dependency on oil, however the consequence of that is that people are starving because farming land is being turned over to fuel production and not food.

Funnily enough nature's a lot cleverer than us, and always manages to find a solution to compensate for man's destructiveness/greed. I imagine some big catastrophe, solar event, or major epidemic, will end up wiping out a large portion of humanity before it manages to destroy the planet totally.

Just thought I'd brighten the day up.  

Powered by the moon eh....




Well, that's me topped up.

gerber wrote:J F Kennedy said when he became President he wanted to put men on the moon.  Many laughed at him, but within a decade the goal had been achieved.

So I think the dream of the Japanese can happen and probably if the investment is there in quite a short space of time.  No pun intended.

when you think about it was just about 60 years from the first powered flight to man setting foot on the moon. It has been 50 years since we last did that and nothing of a similar leap has really happened.
WE need to set these ambitious goals in order to push ourselves, however this project is probably beyond the scope of a single nation, but would benefit the world so it would be in everyone's interest, except possibly the oil nations, to offer financial support to this venture.

We also need to get our eggs out of one basket. so a presence on the moon and ultimately mars and beyond is a way of also adding insurance for the human race. A simple rock a couple of miles across could end us overnight. If we have a presence elsewhere that becomes less of a hazard.