KING@KESTREL@sri-unix (09/20/82)
To transmit electrical power around the moon or store it with low losses: 1) erect towers 200m high, 40 km apart. You'll need about 320 of 'em. Line of sight transmssion can be established between adjacent towers. The spacing has to be modified slightly to take advantage of mountains and to go over them. 2) Atop each tower, place a magnet capable of bending a beam of relativistic electrons and focussing them. we thus establish a 320-agonal path for electrons. This path makes a circuit around the moon, approaching the surface at many points. 3) Power can be added to or drawn from the beam at any point by a mechanism similar to a travelling wave tube or a linear accelerator. Small amounts of power might also have to be bled on each tower for internal use, such as keeping the magnet cold if its superconducting rather than permanent. 4) I suggest posting a few warning signs. This beam may be hazardous to your health where it nears the surface. (but if a magnet goes "out" the beam won't go all that far and certainly can't reach the Earth through its intense magnetic field. I might suggest a Tungsteon plate on each tower to protect against this.) Dick