Solar Power

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Revision as of 04:56, 27 January 2007 by Cfrjlr (talk | contribs) (SPS versus local solar power)
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The first small scale bases on the Moon with either use solar power or nuclear power (or both).

Solar power can be thermal (e.g. Brayton Cycle or Stirling Cycle), or Photovoltaic.

Photovoltaic (PV) Solar cells have a low efficiency, mostly < 20%.

Soft landing hardware on to the Moon is very expensive, so weight is at a premium.

Until ISRU manufacturing is online, Solar Power Satellites (SPS) represent a more economic means of supplying large scale basebar power on the Moon in the early days.

SPS Rectennas are much lighter and more efficient (90%) than PV solar cells.

The distance from L1 to Luna is about the same as the distance from Earth to a geostationary satellite.

So one could put an SPS at lunar-L1 and beam microwaves from there to supply one or more rectennas on the Moon as a very efficient way to provide energy to a power hungry moon base.

Without making any modifications at all to that very SPS, it could easily be maneuvered from L1 to GEO to feed a terrestrial ground based rectenna. The antenna design for L-1 to Luna will work equally well from GEO to Earth