A modest proposal: Pave the moon with PV Cells:

Originally posted by zeeblebot
the panels would be a lot easier to aim at the sun if they were floating at a Lagrangian point.

The whole idea of doing it on the moon is there are mineral resources to build stuff there.

Think of the advertising potential, however. If a significant portion of the lunar equator is paved with PV's, they could also encorporate a large matrix of powerful LED's to make a giant screen to advertise toothpaste and Advair and such🙂

A nice moonlit stroll in lovers lane would get a new meaning🙂

Originally posted by sonhouse
Think of the advertising potential, however. If a significant portion of the lunar equator is paved with PV's, they could also encorporate a large matrix of powerful LED's to make a giant screen to advertise toothpaste and Advair and such🙂

No LEDs would be necessary. Black PV's would stand out against the moons surface. They could either be built in the shape of the required logo, or built on swivels so that they could be turned to create patterns as required. This would reduce their efficiency as light collectors though - but it would be more efficient than using power for LEDs - just as an LCD watch uses far less power than an led watch.

Originally posted by twhitehead
No LEDs would be necessary. Black PV's would stand out against the moons surface. They could either be built in the shape of the required logo, or built on swivels so that they could be turned to create patterns as required. This would reduce their efficiency as light collectors though - but it would be more efficient than using power for LEDs - just as an LCD watch uses far less power than an led watch.

I think LED's would be the way to go because they can make all the colors and have no moving parts and would use only a very small part of the total power. If you had an array of them around each PV you would have quite an impressive screen as viewed from Earth, any image or video even could be programmed in.
"Honey, what's on the moon tonite?" Uh, it looks like the solar races again. I was hoping for that classic Agassi match.....

If you had ear plugs you could even get audio, since there would be about a 1 second delay for a one way image from the moon, it could be sync'd with the video so what you hear in the buds jives with what you see on the moon.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I think LED's would be the way to go because they can make all the colors and have no moving parts and would use only a very small part of the total power.

The moon is quite bright, but only because of its enormous size and reflectivity.
To create a readable display, you would have to cover a very significant area of it with LEDs. That would take an enormous amount of power. Remember that they have to produce enough light to be seen from earth.
It would probably be only effective when there is a new moon as at all other times the reflected sunlight would outshine them so much you would not see them.

It would be cheaper to simply suspend displays in the night sky using helium balloons. It might even need less LEDs to cover the major cities.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Sounds like some kind of computer controlled shape adjustable kiln.

http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk/index.php/architecture/the-worlds-first-printed-building/

I like that the inventor used to make robots for shoes.

Originally posted by twhitehead
The moon is quite bright, but only because of its enormous size and reflectivity.
To create a readable display, you would have to cover a very significant area of it with LEDs. That would take an enormous amount of power. Remember that they have to produce enough light to be seen from earth.
It would probably be only effective when there is a new moon a ...[text shortened]... in the night sky using helium balloons. It might even need less LEDs to cover the major cities.

Realistically, the moon is too small a screen as seen from Earth anyway. Perhaps the best way (assuming someone wanted to do that) would be to have a lunar satellite shining a projection laser down on the surface which would make an image visible from Earth. Remember, when you have a crescent moon, the moon is still there, just not illuminated by the sun so a projector could use that to make images or video. Take a hell of a laser system to do that I imagine.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Remember, when you have a crescent moon, the moon is still there, just not illuminated by the sun so a projector could use that to make images or video. Take a hell of a laser system to do that I imagine.

For anything other than a new moon, you would have to outshine the sun, or at least come pretty close - simply not feasible, especially if all this is supposedly an add on to a power collecting project, not power wasting.
However, my original idea of simply creating patterns with the PVs which will be there anyway would probably not cost much extra at all - just a bit more cabling.
You still would probably need binoculars or a telescope (or camera with zoom), to actually see the pattern, but the advertising potential would still be enormous enough to make it a worth while add-on to any lunar solar power station project.
In fact, it would probably be worth while even on terrestrial ones, now that satellite mapping services are becoming so popular.

Originally posted by sonhouse
You got one thing totally wrong. One side of the moon always faces the Earth, it takes 28 days for one rotation about the sun. All sides of the moon get light and dark cycles.
That's why I had my train going about 16 km/hr 24/7 so it would always have the best angle for collecting solar energy. There would also be room for several trains if they were needed.

Oops.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk/index.php/architecture/the-worlds-first-printed-building/

I like that the inventor used to make robots for shoes.

Wow. Very clever!

I wonder if sandstone is a good material for building with.

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Wow. Very clever!

I wonder if sandstone is a good material for building with.

depends on the binder, it could be as strong as concrete, I think. Maybe that rice soup...