Far-fetched? Admittedly, it’s an idea that’s slightly ahead of its time, but for four decades now, retired University of Houston physicist David Criswell has been championing the notion of using several hundred square kilometers-worth of solar panels to collect infalling sunlight on the Moon as a sustainable source of clean electricity. It’s been a lonely slog, but he’s still keen on the idea.
For his part, Criswell remains undaunted and says that within ten years at a cost of $240 billion (in 1990 U.S. dollars), a LSP base could be built that would generate 0.1 terawatts of electric power for delivery back to Earth. Such a project, he says, would offer investors a projected eventual return of $440 billion in gross revenue and a profit of some $200 billion.
Then within 30 to 40 years, Criswell says LSP base construction could be accelerated to deliver 20 terawatts of electric power back to Earth.