Univ. of Houston's Dr. Criswell's Lunar Electric Power Idea

[Nomad V]

http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v7i28_kumar.html
The above link will take you to a paper that discusses Dr. Criswell's idea regarding the establishment of Solar Power Plants on the moon, and a scheme for beaming low powered microwaves to the earth to supply the planet with enough electricity for everyone for the forseeable future.

Of course big oil, the coal companies and everyone else would be against it and say that it is a pipedream. However, after reading several papers on the subject I think that it is feasible and that it is the best reason that I can think of for going into space on an industrial scale during my life time. It woudl be our "Warp 5 Project", a generational undertaking.

 

[Bill Morris]

But shouldn't a receiving microwave antenna for microwave be as high as possible, where the air is thinnest, maybe not atop Mt. Chimborazo (2.1 km further from the center of the Earth than Everest and close to the equator) but mounted on a balloon tethered near the equator or a tower or something? That would bring the concept back to geostationary orbit for the solar arrays.

Another issue with the moon is moon dust. It's somewhat radioacitve and sticks to everything like Velcro.

 

[Mallory]

Re: Univ. of Houston's Dr. Criswell's Lunar Electric Power

Nomad V said:It woudl be our "Warp 5 Project", a generational undertaking.

No kidding. It would require the cooperation and contribution from governments around the world to make such a thing happen. I still believe some private conglomerate (probably multi-national) will do it first and reap the, yes, profits from the project.

 

[Bill Morris]

Re: Univ. of Houston's Dr. Criswell's Lunar Electric Power

What about the Sahara instead? Adding some wind protection must be easier than carrrying things to the moon.

 

[Nomad V]

Re: Univ. of Houston's Dr. Criswell's Lunar Electric Power

LCARS 24 said:
What about the Sahara instead? Adding some wind protection must be easier than carrrying things to the moon.

Great idea, but you would not have round the clock generation and you would have problems with transmission power loss over distance. Regardless, it would be a good start to test the idea!

 

[EyalM]

Re: Univ. of Houston's Dr. Criswell's Lunar Electric Power

A beam with a maximum intensity of less than 20% of noontime sunlight would deliver about 200 W to its local electric grid for every square meter of rectenna area.

Considering that on the equator there are 1000W/sqm, I don't see the commercial benefits of this project. (the typical solar panels have 15% efficiency, giving us 150W without having to launch anything to the moon).

 

[Nomad V]

Re: Univ. of Houston's Dr. Criswell's Lunar Electric Power

EyalM said:

A beam with a maximum intensity of less than 20% of noontime sunlight would deliver about 200 W to its local electric grid for every square meter of rectenna area.

Considering that on the equator there are 1000W/sqm, I don't see the commercial benefits of this project. (the typical solar panels have 15% efficiency, giving us 150W without having to launch anything to the moon).

If I remember correctly the issue would be transmission loss through transmission wires. I don't believe it would be worthwhile running the infrastructure all across to areas that need them such as the northeast, but you could beam the energy down to the vicinity of New York City.

 

[EyalM]

Re: Univ. of Houston's Dr. Criswell's Lunar Electric Power

Nomad V said:

EyalM said:

A beam with a maximum intensity of less than 20% of noontime sunlight would deliver about 200 W to its local electric grid for every square meter of rectenna area.

Considering that on the equator there are 1000W/sqm, I don't see the commercial benefits of this project. (the typical solar panels have 15% efficiency, giving us 150W without having to launch anything to the moon).

If I remember correctly the issue would be transmission loss through transmission wires. I don't believe it would be worthwhile running the infrastructure all across to areas that need them such as the northeast, but you could beam the energy down to the vicinity of New York City.

Then why not use microwaves to transmit the power to more northern areas?