This is just an early doodle I did for a Lunar low-pressure steam generator. It’s obsolete now as I really think we need to minimize our surface activity and footprint. All that equipment is at greater risk on the surface. And so are the Homesteaders that have to maintain it. Constructing a large surface habitat is also risky and complicated. And it’s unnecessary. All we really need is to concentrate, capture, and redirect the sunlight to the equipment (and people) located safely underground.
See SPORE Design Version 2 for a crude illustration.
Solar-powered steam is still my first choice for Lunar power plants.
- The designs and equipment are simple. It should be relatively easy for Homesteads to make the equipment on site with no imported material. Iron and water (OK, we may need to import the hydrogen) might be all we need. We’ll need to figure out how to make an electric generator out of Lunar materials though (copper won’t be available).
- We can use some form (or multiple forms) of combustion to heat the water during nightspan. All of the equipment keeps being used (unlike photovoltaic cells on the surface), we just change the heat source.