3 ms·

How about two/three sites around the Shackleton crater which beam power back and forth wirelessly across the crater as each site goes in and out of sunlight?

edgyquant 5y ago
This is a sexy idea. I don’t know if it would work, but it would be fun to work on
ncmncm 5y ago
Cabling would be the thing. Shackleton Crater might make an awesome radio telescope.
- ncmncm 5y ago
  ... or even better, infrared telescope. (Both, really, at once.) With the mirrors separated from the focus by miles, they could be simple optically flat surfaces, as many as you like; and so far apart, the resolution would be unmatchable. It would probably be most useful for deep-field imaging, because to can't point it; you rely on it happening to point at something interesting, which likely means stars in galaxies very far away.
seg_lol 5y ago
From a linked research article on the main site, they had a compelling plan bounce energy around with mirrors so you don't have reconversion losses. Tracking mirrors and solar panels. The light from the sun is highly collimated.
- Diggsey 5y ago
  Interesting, but surely the last thing you want is complex mechanical systems involved that will quickly wear out due to lunar regolith, or having to transport large mirrors to the moon? Sure you get losses from wireless transmission, but you can always just add more solar panels, as they're cheap, lightweight and compact. You only need a small amount of power to keep things going during the 14 days of darkness, so you can avoid transfer losses by doing the intensive stuff during the 14 days in the sun.
  - seg_lol 5y ago
    One could use compliant hinges [1] to help mitigate moon dust issues, those will have to be dealt with anyway. Found the link https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Light_Bender/ https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_... > Light Bender is a novel concept for the generation and distribution of power on the lunar surface within the context of the Artemis mission and the “Long-Term Human Lunar Surface Presence” that will follow. The innovative concept is based on a heliostat that utilizes Cassegrain telescope optics as the primary means to capture, concentrate and focus the sun's light. A second key innovation is the use of a Fresnel lens to collimate this light for distribution to multiple end users at distances of a kilometer or more away without substantial losses. The redirected and concentrated solar energy is then converted to electricity at the end user’s location using small (2m-4m diameter) photovoltaic arrays that can be mounted on habitats, cryo-coolers, or mobile assets such as rovers or ISRU elements. This concept is superior to alternatives such as highly inefficient Laser Power Beaming, as it only converts light to electricity once, and to traditional power distribution architectures that rely on mass intensive cables. [1] https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Compliant+Mechanisms-p-9780471384786 https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Compliant+Mechanisms-p-978047138... https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/about-compliant-mechanisms https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/about-compliant-mech... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97t7Xj_iBv0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97t7Xj_iBv0 This is a great recent example of a joystick adapter using compliant mechanisms, https://old.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/oz1udh/flexure_joystick_for_xbox/h7wt43j/ https://old.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/oz1udh/flexure_...

edgyquant 5y ago

This is a sexy idea. I don’t know if it would work, but it would be fun to work on

ncmncm 5y ago

Cabling would be the thing. Shackleton Crater might make an awesome radio telescope.

ncmncm 5y ago
... or even better, infrared telescope. (Both, really, at once.) With the mirrors separated from the focus by miles, they could be simple optically flat surfaces, as many as you like; and so far apart, the resolution would be unmatchable. It would probably be most useful for deep-field imaging, because to can't point it; you rely on it happening to point at something interesting, which likely means stars in galaxies very far away.

seg_lol 5y ago

From a linked research article on the main site, they had a compelling plan bounce energy around with mirrors so you don't have reconversion losses. Tracking mirrors and solar panels. The light from the sun is highly collimated.

Diggsey 5y ago
Interesting, but surely the last thing you want is complex mechanical systems involved that will quickly wear out due to lunar regolith, or having to transport large mirrors to the moon? Sure you get losses from wireless transmission, but you can always just add more solar panels, as they're cheap, lightweight and compact. You only need a small amount of power to keep things going during the 14 days of darkness, so you can avoid transfer losses by doing the intensive stuff during the 14 days in the sun.
- seg_lol 5y ago
  One could use compliant hinges [1] to help mitigate moon dust issues, those will have to be dealt with anyway. Found the link https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_I/Light_Bender/ https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2021_Phase_... > Light Bender is a novel concept for the generation and distribution of power on the lunar surface within the context of the Artemis mission and the “Long-Term Human Lunar Surface Presence” that will follow. The innovative concept is based on a heliostat that utilizes Cassegrain telescope optics as the primary means to capture, concentrate and focus the sun's light. A second key innovation is the use of a Fresnel lens to collimate this light for distribution to multiple end users at distances of a kilometer or more away without substantial losses. The redirected and concentrated solar energy is then converted to electricity at the end user’s location using small (2m-4m diameter) photovoltaic arrays that can be mounted on habitats, cryo-coolers, or mobile assets such as rovers or ISRU elements. This concept is superior to alternatives such as highly inefficient Laser Power Beaming, as it only converts light to electricity once, and to traditional power distribution architectures that rely on mass intensive cables. [1] https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Compliant+Mechanisms-p-9780471384786 https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Compliant+Mechanisms-p-978047138... https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/about-compliant-mechanisms https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/about-compliant-mech... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97t7Xj_iBv0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97t7Xj_iBv0 This is a great recent example of a joystick adapter using compliant mechanisms, https://old.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/oz1udh/flexure_joystick_for_xbox/h7wt43j/ https://old.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/oz1udh/flexure_...