Be real.

Be rational?

Be rational?

Be recursive!

[quote name='Oberon_Command' timestamp='1306959255' post='4818413']
Be rational?

Be recursive!
[/quote]

Be real.

Be whatever you want to be.

[quote name='owl' timestamp='1306971642' post='4818460']
[quote name='Oberon_Command' timestamp='1306959255' post='4818413']
Be rational?

Be recursive!
[/quote]

Be real.
[/quote]

Be imaginary!

Be On Topic

I say we build this first.

Space Elevator

So in short, yes, the system is affected by the atmosphere.

Is this a major reason for wanting to put the solar panels on the moon? I don't understand why we want to build it up there vs down here. Clearly there's a challenge for getting the energy from the moon back to earth, so I suspect given that there must still be a huge reason for doing the collection on the moon

[quote name='Krohm' timestamp='1306935827' post='4818271']
So in short, yes, the system is affected by the atmosphere.

Is this a major reason for wanting to put the solar panels on the moon? I don't understand why we want to build it up there vs down here. Clearly there's a challenge for getting the energy from the moon back to earth, so I suspect given that there must still be a huge reason for doing the collection on the moon
[/quote]


- constant daylight (effectively), though if they're actually ON the moon this is somewhat negated
- no air or flying debris (except micrometeoroids) to mess with your solar arrays
- the stuff needed to build them is right there, meaning that you actually DON'T have to export much from Earth, once you've got a factory there

Of course, there's the minor issues of getting there in the first place and the fact that your solar arrays will degrade over time in the higher radiation environment. One reason I think long-term space-based power in general will end up using solar thermal generators instead of photovoltaics.