Nukes & solar panels

To amplify Charles' comments yet further...

How is it that one would build a "6/5 of a mile high" structure on the
Moon? This sounds like an engineering task of formidable dimension. To
construct such a structure, one would need sophisticated cranes, hoists,
and other construction equipment. None of this construction equipment
infrastructure exists on the Moon today, so it would either have to be
shipped from Earth or constructed on-site, adding to the complexity and
cost.

Ron Menich

Charles

04/02/01
10:20 PM
Please
respond to
ssi_list

>
> 100 meters seems pretty puny. The World Trade center is 1/5 of a mile
high,
> and this is on Earth under a full gravity. On the Moon a structure which
is
> 6/5 of a mile high could easily be built with the same structural
members.

No it is not easy. It is expensive.

To compete with an unsteered array of solar cells lying on the surface
of the
Moon in a non-polar location:-

if the steered polar array is more than four times as expensive as the
unsteered
array, then it does not compete in terms of watts per dollar.

Sure you could build an array a thousand feet high, but at what cost ?