From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!zeppo!whuxlb!ech
Newsgroups: net.space
Title: Re: Re: Reactors on the Moon - (nf)
Article-I.D.: whuxlb.574
Posted: Fri Sep 17 15:44:48 1982
Received: Tue Sep 21 09:29:51 1982

#R:sri-unix:-330400:whuxlb:9300003:000:1162
whuxlb!ech    Sep 17 15:24:00 1982

The observations about the relative advantages of solar over nuclear power
on the moon are persuasive, except for one glitch: the sun shines only
about half the time, and when it does shine you have to "point" your 
collectors at it for maximum advantage (simply spreading a sheet on the
more-or-less horizontal means you wind up with a power uptake that looks
like a sine curve with the negative side clipped to 0).

Indeed, the solar arguments are most persuasive only when the sun shines
almost all the time, e.g. in orbit.  This is the tremendous advantage of
the L5-style space colony: the sun is almost always there to tap, and
keeping the collector aimed at it is fairly easy in freefall.

The major problem with solar power on planetary surfaces remains the lack
of effective energy storage technology.  The need for energy storage 
transcends solar needs, of course: any electric utility would like to be
able to run its generating plant at a constant rate, storing the surplus at
times of low demand and tapping it for peak demand.  Solar power for mining
the moon has the dual problem: a constant demand and a fluctuating power source.

=Ned Horvath=