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ninehundreddolarydos t1_j2eh8ec wrote

Reply to comment by mrod9191 in Israeli pens plan for belt of solar panels on moon to power oxygen production. With NASA mulling nuclear reactor to generate energy, Ben Gurion University expert says his idea would produce same amount of power with six times less mass. by Zee2A

The article says they propose building a large ring of solar panels above the 88th parallel, so enough solar panels to always have half in sunlight and half in darkness.

I think fission is much more sensible.

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Bierbart12 t1_j2eit4d wrote

I'm wondering how THAT would possibly use less mass

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ninehundreddolarydos t1_j2ekexw wrote

I'm guessing over-estimates on the lunar nuclear solution, best case estimates for solar panel mass, and sidestepping the problem of volume for that many solar panels. Oh and don't forget to pack 10km (!) of transmission line.

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gerkletoss t1_j2eq9nd wrote

My napkin says it's probably more like 400 km of transmission line.

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AnotherQuark t1_j2fbs3n wrote

Reasonable idea once the moon is saturated with enough humans though.

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Aaron_Hamm t1_j2fp9tb wrote

I mean, if you're running out of nuclear fuel, sure

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mienaikoe t1_j2fewd3 wrote

At that point Solar thermal might be even cheaper. No pesky atmosphere to get in the way

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binzoma t1_j2fsy3l wrote

I wonder if the assumption is a lot of the materials for solar panels could be harvested from the moon fairly easily?

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Lordnerble t1_j2fuooo wrote

You would not get anything from the moon material wise easily. Without having infrastructure in place to do it. So no.

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cpe111 t1_j2euv14 wrote

They would need a lot of cable to make that work.

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