> The two week night might be a problem
> there.
low-tech way to solve this problem. Dunno. Not a rocket scientist. Low-tech, but perhaps problematic. One problem with mirrors which are hundreds of miles from what you're trying to illuminate is that the optics of the situation force you to illuminate a much larger area than what you might desire. Solar intensity is much reduced, and can only be increased by increasing the area of the mirrors to a very great extent. So you're talking areas of illumination and mirrors far larger than anything O'Neill ever proposed for his habitats. Then there's another issue. One of the few reasons why I can take O'Neill's enormous-yet-flimsy habitat mirrors seriously is that they have a very simple andsteady motion: one revolution per year (about a degree a day at our distance). Orbital mirrors intended to illuminate a target area on a planetary surface will have to slew at a varying rate, and on a timescale of hours. I'm not sure how well we're going to be able to quickly slew a mirror several square miles in area at a varying rate.
Regards,
Mike Combs
About agriculture on the Moon. In Alaska with long late spring and early summer days, some crops grow to remarkable size. With the 24 hour/day sunlight on the Moon for 14 days, some crops there may be similarly very productive in the 24/14 sunlight period. (I like that 24/14 designation, which I came up with, and recommend.) Also there are crops which are sold by seed companies for gardeners which are said to mature in two weeks on Earth. The only ones I recall are radishes, but there may be others. Also perhaps "perennial" crops can be developed in the long run that like deciduous trees on Earth, which grow leaves when it gets warm, grow apples, then drop their leaves when it gets cold could be developed for the Moon. Should they be called "perlunar"?
Biology will be fun on the Moon and we won't know what it can do until some folks get started in a serious way, but with artificial lights one can start doing the science here on Earth. I have encouraged my students in the course I teach every now and then, called The Colonization of Space, to do this, but students are usually involved in so many other things that once the term is over they go on to other things. Does anyone want to try for funding on this idea? Agricultural scientists might be in a good position. Please go after it. After all the government will put lots of money in developing enabling technologies if they are serious about a lunar base.
Sincerely, Jay Huebner
> I have encouraged my students in the course I teach every now and
then, called The Colonization of Space, to do this, but students are
usually involved in so many other things that once the term is over
they go on to other things. Does anyone want to try for funding on
this idea? Agricultural scientists might be in a good position.
Please go after it. After all the government will put lots of money
in developing enabling technologies if they are serious about a
lunar base.
> Sincerely, Jay Huebner
there are already plenty of people in prison who know a lot about
hydroponic gardening... and who know what it is like to not see the
sun for extended periods, who live in cramped quarters, etc.
Ed
ps the federal prison about 60 miles north of where I live (Bowden
Institution) produces 80% of the world's supply of catnip. Hmmm...
maybe I will write a letter to the warden...