6 ms·

One base, on stilts, constantly walking with the sun.

by atoav 4y ago

greenbit 4y ago
Going to need roads for that. Might as well construct rails. A circum-lunar railway! Probably want to build that at 80 degrees latitude or more, the trade off being solar angle vs material costs.
- atoav 4y ago
  God, frickin lunar railways. Truly the future of everything.
  - euroderf 4y ago
    And they don't have to be big. More on the scale of those little trains at fairgrounds.
- ben_w 4y ago
  If you build rails, you'll get a free good-enough conductor for getting power from the other side, even before you think about putting anything onto those rails.
- SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
  That's not a new idea, it's in a book already: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848027-new-moon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848027-new-moon
- labster 4y ago
  How would a lunar railway handle thermal expansion? We’re back to the same problem that the nighttime lunar surface is mighty cold, and I’d expect big gaps to form
  - burnished 4y ago
    I have no idea how plausibly, but the book 2312 has a city on one of the hot inner planets that gets squeezed along a rail using thermal expansion. Even if that doesnt work, it seems like the sort of thing you could engineer around, just a more extreme version of the engineering we already do to handle thermal expansion.
TomK32 4y ago
Won't this throw up too much dust?
trvv 4y ago
Then leave and wait for it to start sending us poetry about its constant mortal fear of the night :) [1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=4PUIxEWmsvI https://youtube.com/watch?v=4PUIxEWmsvI
fbdab103 4y ago
I believe I read a book on Mercury where they did the reverse - a giant moving city to stay out of the direct sunlight.
- MrVandemar 4y ago
  I feel like that might have been Charles Stross "Saturn's Children". Been a long time since I read it though so I may be wrong.
  - fbdab103 4y ago
    That is the book I was remembering!
- philipkglass 4y ago
  That was Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2312_(novel) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2312_(novel)

One base, on stilts, constantly walking with the sun.

by atoav 4y ago

One base, on stilts, constantly walking with the sun.

Going to need roads for that. Might as well construct rails. A circum-lunar railway! Probably want to build that at 80 degrees latitude or more, the trade off being solar angle vs material costs.

atoav 4y ago
God, frickin lunar railways. Truly the future of everything.
- euroderf 4y ago
  And they don't have to be big. More on the scale of those little trains at fairgrounds.
ben_w 4y ago
If you build rails, you'll get a free good-enough conductor for getting power from the other side, even before you think about putting anything onto those rails.
SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
That's not a new idea, it's in a book already: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848027-new-moon https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23848027-new-moon
labster 4y ago
How would a lunar railway handle thermal expansion? We’re back to the same problem that the nighttime lunar surface is mighty cold, and I’d expect big gaps to form
- burnished 4y ago
  I have no idea how plausibly, but the book 2312 has a city on one of the hot inner planets that gets squeezed along a rail using thermal expansion. Even if that doesnt work, it seems like the sort of thing you could engineer around, just a more extreme version of the engineering we already do to handle thermal expansion.

TomK32 4y ago

Won't this throw up too much dust?

trvv 4y ago

Then leave and wait for it to start sending us poetry about its constant mortal fear of the night :) [1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=4PUIxEWmsvI https://youtube.com/watch?v=4PUIxEWmsvI

fbdab103 4y ago

I believe I read a book on Mercury where they did the reverse - a giant moving city to stay out of the direct sunlight.

MrVandemar 4y ago
I feel like that might have been Charles Stross "Saturn's Children". Been a long time since I read it though so I may be wrong.
- fbdab103 4y ago
  That is the book I was remembering!
philipkglass 4y ago
That was Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2312_(novel) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2312_(novel)