Lunar SE
From an email stream I get sometimes from some Lunar Society folks in Saint Louis:
And – in the predictable future, a solar farm on the far end of a lunar space elevator with power transmisson by microwaves. Frank Smith, LiftPort Ambasador, what do you say?
They were discussing souces of power for a Lunar base and how to store energy during the day to use at night. My response:
While, of course this is something I would agree with. I expect that the Lunar SE will be built before the Earth one for a number of reasons. One being the fact that it can be done with existing materials. Another is that it would be less costly to build and use a Lunar SE than to build and use a lunar lander. More of what does lift off the Earth will be useful since less fule would be needed.