Russia plans to put a nuclear power plant on the moon in the next decade to supply its lunar space programme and a joint Russian-Chinese research station, as major powers rush to explore the earth's only natural satellite.
Well, you can’t put permanent infrastructure on the moon without a plan to power it. So, a power plant has to be the first step, that’s why NASA has the kilopower program, even though we don’t have a permanent moon base yet.
I was thinking solar + battery energy storage for when the sun is ‘unavailable’. It’s not like having like 1k MW capacity and nothing to power makes any sense, but an area with panels and storage can definitely get things started, at least…
For sure, and that can definitely work. But, you will need three times the number of solar panels (since half the time the panels are doing nothing and if you’re storing a lot of energy, that means there’s a proportional amount of storage losses.)
And I honestly don’t know how much mass in batteries would be needed for 15 days worth of storage, but my instincts say too much.
Keep in mind that total mass to deliver can sometimes be a biggest cost limitation. A nuclear generator that gets delivered in one launch could be cheaper than otherwise much simpler solar panels and batteries if that solution requires two or three launches.
Well the sun works great for orbit around the moon, but on the surface a day/night cycle lasts a month. So that’s about 15 days of night at a time.
That’s why everyone continues to talk about the lunar poles, btw, because you have an eternal twilight there, where continuous solar power might still be doable.
Yeah, theoretically if your positioning is perfect you can get that eternal twilight, where the sun just travels across the horizon in a circle. But you know the moon wobbles a bit, so while you might get a month or two of straight sun, you might get a month or two of straight darkness, where the sun is just below the horizon, just barely out of reach…
Now I might be talking shit, but isn’t there a problem with dust on the moon that means solar panels wouldn’t work very well? Though I may be thinking of Mars. Or something else. Uranus?
Well, you can’t put permanent infrastructure on the moon without a plan to power it. So, a power plant has to be the first step, that’s why NASA has the kilopower program, even though we don’t have a permanent moon base yet.
The sun, right over there: “um, hello?”
Well the sun works great for orbit around the moon, but on the surface a day/night cycle lasts a month. So that’s about 15 days of night at a time.
Obviously there’s no wind on the moon and burning things makes no sense. So literally the only options left are nuclear or lots and lots of batteries.
I was thinking solar + battery energy storage for when the sun is ‘unavailable’. It’s not like having like 1k MW capacity and nothing to power makes any sense, but an area with panels and storage can definitely get things started, at least…
For sure, and that can definitely work. But, you will need three times the number of solar panels (since half the time the panels are doing nothing and if you’re storing a lot of energy, that means there’s a proportional amount of storage losses.)
And I honestly don’t know how much mass in batteries would be needed for 15 days worth of storage, but my instincts say too much.
Keep in mind that total mass to deliver can sometimes be a biggest cost limitation. A nuclear generator that gets delivered in one launch could be cheaper than otherwise much simpler solar panels and batteries if that solution requires two or three launches.
That’s why everyone continues to talk about the lunar poles, btw, because you have an eternal twilight there, where continuous solar power might still be doable.
Yeah, theoretically if your positioning is perfect you can get that eternal twilight, where the sun just travels across the horizon in a circle. But you know the moon wobbles a bit, so while you might get a month or two of straight sun, you might get a month or two of straight darkness, where the sun is just below the horizon, just barely out of reach…
Now I might be talking shit, but isn’t there a problem with dust on the moon that means solar panels wouldn’t work very well? Though I may be thinking of Mars. Or something else. Uranus?
There is no wind in the vacuum of space.
Vacuum… everywhere?
Dyson furiously trying to replicate this phenomenon for their next vacuum
Yeah it was Mars that I was thinking about, not the Moon.
Pro: nothing’s ever gonna kick dust on your panels except space debris or ourselves.
Con: nothing’s ever gonna wipe dust off our panels.
engages windshield wipers