Transmission wires from the Moon to Earth - Believe it ! ! ! !

From: victoriatangoman [mailto:tango_dancer@...]

I don't buy into Criswell's theory that the moon is the ideal
location for solar farms. Glaser's SPS solution is more elegant and
the way to go,

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who feels that way. Criswell became
aware of some critical comments I made about LSP in my Space Settlement FAQ
and contacted me about it. He was kind enough to send me a big pile of his
published papers on the topic. I saw all kinds of comparisons with
Earth-launched SPS and ground-based solar power, but never the comparison I
was looking for: with Gerard O'Neill's GEO SPS from lunar resources
proposal. Nonetheless, I did go back to my FAQ and made a couple of
modifications to make it slightly more supportive of LSP.

I always felt that Criswell's proposal was a solution to the wrong problem.
If there was some tremendous difficulty with lifting lunar resources from
the surface into high orbits around the Earth, I might could see us going
the Criswell route and just eating the technical difficulties of inconstant
sunlight. But I think O'Neill demonstrated that lifting lunar resources
will be relatively easy. It's getting off the Earth in the first place
that's the hard part in need of solution.

but only without transmission wires from the SPS's
to the earth :)

Unless said wires are also strong enough to support an elevator or two. :)

My wife is only somewhat knowledgeable about space development due to
occasional difficulties in getting me to shut up. At the dinner table last
night, I shared with her that website's comments about the moon-Earth cables
getting tangled up. She went, "Ooohh....kayyyyy....". So we can take
comfort that even a person not particularly into space development can
recognize a ridiculous argument when they see it.

Regards,

Mike Combs

From:
victoriatangoman [mailto:tango_dancer@...]
I don't buy into Criswell's theory that the moon is the ideal
location for solar farms. Glaser's SPS solution is more elegant and
the way to go,

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who feels that way. Criswell became aware of some critical comments I made about LSP in my Space Settlement FAQ and contacted me about it. He was kind enough to send me a big pile of his published papers on the topic. I saw all kinds of comparisons with Earth-launched SPS and ground-based solar power, but never the comparison I was looking for: with Gerard O'Neill's GEO SPS from lunar resources proposal. Nonetheless, I did go back to my FAQ and made a couple of modifications to make it slightly more supportive of LSP.

I always felt that Criswell's proposal was a solution to the wrong problem. If there was some tremendous difficulty with lifting lunar resources from the surface into high orbits around the Earth, I might could see us going the Criswell route and just eating the technical difficulties of inconstant sunlight. But I think O'Neill demonstrated that lifting lunar resources will be relatively easy. It's getting off the Earth in the first place that's the hard part in need of solution.

but only without transmission wires from the SPS's
to the earth :)

Unless said wires are also strong enough to support an elevator or two. :)

My wife is only somewhat knowledgeable about space development due to occasional difficulties in getting me to shut up.
At the dinner table last night, I shared with her that website's comments about the moon-Earth cables getting tangled up. She went, "Ooohh....kayyyyy....". So we can take comfort that even a person not particularly into space development can recognize a ridiculous argument when they see it.
Regards,
Mike Combs