ONCE THE CLIMATE IS FIXED, THEN WHAT?

 

Vue d'artiste d'une centrale solaire spatiale.

An interesting reflection piece was published today, by BBC News, about the possibility of creating a series of solar power stations in space.

The scenario that was presented was quite convincing, except for a few points. For instance, sending all the material needed for solar power stations assembly directly from Earth would be very expensive et would necessitate an impressive number of launches.

A better (if more complex) scenario would be to proceed by steps, with the aim of being able to build small, automated plants on the Moon, use them for creating the elements needed, and dispatch said elements from there. Considering the reduced gravity existing on our natural satellite, the launches could be done at a fraction of the cost.

Of course, a project of such magnitude would imply a concerted effort over many decades. You would need an Earth orbiting station, then a Moon orbiting station, then a more or less permanent base on the surface of the Moon, then a number of automated factories on the Moon, then a launching system, then a fleet of vehicles to move and assemble the elements that would form the power stations (and all other ancillary installations), then the receiving installations on Earth...

It sounds like a lot, but it's probably feasible, technologically speaking. It's also cost-effective in the long run, the way the gigantic cost of a hydro-electric power station, on Earth, is recovered through the electricity that is produced afterward. In that sense, the electricity coming down from the power stations would pay for the whole project, over a period of time.

Still, it's probably not a good idea to launch such a project at the moment, since the present climatic changes that are taking place and are growing in size should be mankind's most urgent priority and the efforts needed to correct them must then take precedence. But it may be something worthwhile to envision in the long run, to plan in advance carefully, and to put in motion as soon as the climatic imbalance is corrected or under control, say in fifty or seventy years from now.

The best way to do it, of course, would be in the form of an all-human project, ideally run by the United Nations, as opposed to something realized by a particular nation or a particular group of nations. But then, that sort of thing would have to be decided by those who would be around and alive at the time...

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How solar farms in space might beam electricity to Earth: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62636746