Europe, Russia discuss 'orbital shipyard' plans

Marvin the Martian wrote:

:On Fri, 22 May 2009 12:30:11 -0400, Len Lekx wrote:
:
:
: Correct me if I'm wrong... but doesn't light behave according to
: inverse-square laws...? Since Mars is twice as far away (roughly) from
: the sun as we are, doesn't that mean that solar energy is one-quarter
: the intensity?
:
: Or am I just plain confused? :-)
:
:Earth is, of course, 1 AU away.
:Mars is about 1.4-1.6 AU away. Say, 1.5 AU.
:
:So, (1 AU)^2 / (1.5 AU)^2 = 1/2.25 = .44 or 44%
:
:McCall is about right when he says you get twice the solar energy on the
:Moon as you do Mars. And it is true solar energy will work better on the
:moon than it does on earth. The problem is, you'd have to haul up all
:that solar energy equipment up to the moon, and you have 2 weeks of
:darkness at a time, so you're going to need some really big batteries if
:you're going to build a base there.
:

Nonsense. If your head wasn't so firmly up and locked you'd think of
these things yourself, since they're pretty widely known.

Use thermal solar (not photovoltaic) and store energy during the day
in molten salts and use those for energy during the dark. Very little
to haul other than reflective film and no batteries.

DOH!

Next?

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn