this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2025
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Well that's dumb. Solar power during the very long day could power operations and charge batteries for ops during the long night. Trump's admin is so anti-renewables that they'd rather build a nuke plant than take advantage of solar. I'm only surprised they aren't trying to figure out how to build a coal plant up there.
A small reactor like what we use in submarines or our aircraft carriers would probably be the best tool for the job on the moon. They are small and require minimal maintenance (within their fairly long lifespan) and they produce enormous amounts of power.
How much weight in solar panels would it take to produce what a reactor could?
Would a single panel on the moon last more than 20 years?
How do we decommission panels on the moon?
(forgot about batteries)... all of these things IDEALLY will come back down to Earth some day so the fewer things we put on the moon in the first place the better
And we can just shoot the spent fuel into the sun!
It's more efficient to launch it out of the solar system. Less Ξv required.
Imagine being the first alien civilization to find remnants of ancient human culture in space, and it's a cancerous death rock screaming radiation... Haha