Lunar Lasers

Two different articles about building lasers (well, lasers and a maser perhaps) on the moon. Reuters has a story about a potential lunar power plant, creating electricity with solar panels and beaming it to Earth with microwaves. Space.com has a piece about building a sort of super-sized Star Wars program on the Moon, giant lasers set up to blast incoming space debris and not, of course, anyone here on Earth.

Comments

If they don't bite, lower the price...

[ObligatoryUserName]

The solar power plant on the moon idea has been around for quite a while, but the last time I heard of it, the estimated cost was more than a trillion dollars (I seem to recall it being closer to 2 trillion dollars). Even though it cost so much, the scientist (I can't remember who it was, so it might be the same guy) said it could make back all its costs in under a year by selling power to everyone on Earth at a rate that was lower than what we would pay otherwise.

What I'm curious to know is has the cost of space missions gone down so much since then that it can now be done for the $59 billion listed in the article, rather than the >$1 trillion number cited a number of years ago, or is there some new trick (sure sounds the same), or is this guy just making up a lower number so that people will actually listen to him? Anyone out there heard of this Prof. Criswell before? I'd really like to believe that this is a viable option.

Problems

[saider]

Has anyone built a 100% automated large scale power plant? Even here on Earth, such a task is daunting. Saying that it can be easily done on the moon, and done cost effectively is like saying that I could build cheaper cars on the moon because my machinery will only have to cope with 1/6th of the gravity.

"But satellites and the space shuttle use solar power all the time." They also have either a 5-10 year lifespan or are serviced regularly. The article said that it could be profitable in 5 years. So when it finally becomes profitable, many of its components will be nearing the end of their lifespan. Then you have to chunk down some more money to build a replacement.

Nevermind that there will still need to be multiple ground stations in remote areas to catch the radiation. The moon is not geosynchronous. Build a station at the poles you say? There goes your costs again. Also, say what you want about safety, nobody will want to live near these things. And they will have to be in different countries which brings politics into the mix.

This is pie-in-the-sky dreaming. If you ask me, I think the money is better spent designing and running a good nuclear power plant or for some fusion research.