From: utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!barnes Newsgroups: net.space Title: Re: Reactors on the moon - (nf) Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.728 Posted: Mon Sep 20 11:34:51 1982 Received: Tue Sep 21 08:02:51 1982 #R:sri-unix:-328000:uiucdcs:12700012:000:1131 uiucdcs!barnes Sep 19 19:49:00 1982 I seem to recall from my history classes that back a few decades we thought the oceans and remote sections of our planet were big enough to take it. The World has a slightly different opinion now. In 5000 years I don't think that hunk of rock will mean anything to us execpt as a museum. Think of what was happening on this planet 5000 years ago and if we survive another 5000 years, we won't be worrying about little star systems like this one. uiucdcs!barnes ***** uiucdcs:net.space / mcdaniel / 9:09 pm Sep 16, 1982 However, Luna is a *B*I*G* rock! There is plenty of room for just about anything you'd like to do. Furthermore, unlike the earth, one spot is just about as good as any other (no weather, river, air pressure, etc. worries -- just land roughness, and that can be solved with a grader or by going down to one of the "seas".) Luna's radius is Order(3000 km) (plus or minus 75%!), and tha surface area of a sphere is 4*pi*r*r (I think), so the lunar surface has an area of 4*3*3e3*3e3 = 1e8 or so square kilometers of more or less usable area (give or take a factor of 100). Plenty of room. ----------