Luna Ring: Solar Energy From The Moon

"Power gathered from the 13,000 terawatts of continuous solar energy the Moon’s surface receives daily would be beamed back to an Earth-based receiving station via microwave or laser transmission"

AKA Death Ray

There is no Master but the Master, and Cutie is his prophet.

What? Chinese army wants to microwave earth?

However cool an idea, they forget to account for all the space debris and asteroids that smack into the moon.

Why don't we just put solar panels on the Earth?

"There is no Master but the Master, and Cutie is his prophet."

I love that I'm not the only person who thought that.

marishka, my thoughts exactly. It's not as if we're short of hot, sunny desert areas is it - even a few square miles of panels will generate some serious power.

I would not want to look up at the moon, pondering the universe, and see a big man-made scar in the sky. We already rip away the beauty of our own planet, lets not rip away the beauty of the sky.

@chiropteran

Yeah, why solve the worlds energy crisis and dependance on dwindling resources if you have to put something useful on a desolate rock orbiting nearby.

I can't help but wonder if this would seriously alter the moon's albedo. This would totally mess with migrating and hibernating animals, heck, probibly all animals. Perhaps even have an effect on humans.

I stand by the ideas presented in the movie Moon. Helium 3 harvested from moon rocks on the far side of the moon and sent to earth. The power of the sun, trapped in the moon, and providing 90% of the Earth's energy needs.

Or perhaps the most ultimate way of exporting our pollution issues.

Chioropteran took the words out of my mouth.

Please, you greedy people have plastered billboards across the landscape. There is nowhere a city dwelling person can look to escape the onslaught of humans, except the sky. Please, you own everything. Don't take the moon from me. It is all I have left. untouched. Unmolested. I see the moon, and can become a zygote for a moment, a lone entity in a sea of stars.
Marr the moon, and kill my dreaming. A final nail in the coffin of humanity.

@Vonskippy

We have plenty of space for everything. Sky-scrapers, deserts.. We have the technology to solve the crisis without these extreme measures (and costs), the government just doesn't want to use them.
The moon has been revered and worshipped by many people around the world for ages. What about the indigenous peoples, the amish, and the nature-worshipping religions of the world? I think that it would be unfair to technologize the moon.

I do see your point, it is a useful piece of rock and it could solve the energy crisis, if we had enough money to even go through with the plan. I just dont think we could get the whole world to agree, as the moon doesn't belong to any one country (or especially, any corporation). I don't even think it belongs to people.

"That's no moon! ..well, ok it is the moon. But why did it just blow up Finland?"