We got starry-eyed last month about Japanese plans to send humanoid robots to the moon, but now we're, well, over the moon to see that the Japanese want to build a whole robot base on the heavenly body by 2020.

A Japanese government panel has produced a draft paper outlining how humanoid rover robots will begin surveying the moon by 2015, according to a report by the prime minister's office.

As part of the $2.2 billion project, the droids will begin construction of an unmanned base near the south pole of the moon that will be powered by solar panels, according to the panel chaired by Waseda University President Katsuhiko Shirai.

Weighing about 660 pounds, the droids will roll on treads and operate within a 60-mile radius of the base. They'll be equipped with solar panels, seismographs to investigate the moon's inner structure, high-def cameras, and arms to gather rock samples, which will be returned to Earth via rocket.

 

Japan believes a moon base is essential for exploration of the solar system, but its financial straits have pushed back lunar colonization to 2020.

Japan's Kaguya lunar probe has sent back stunning high-def images of the moon in recent years, including a panorama of the Earth rising from lunar orbit. Such postcards will look so much cooler if they include a few little bots waving to us Earthlings.

CNET http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20006075-1.html

 

Luna Ring: A Giant Solar Power Plant on the Moon

This Plan Has Robots and Everything!
462diggsdiggThe general idea is: You build a massive "belt" of solar cells around the Moon's equator (that's about 6,800 miles, or 11,000 kilometers). You convert that electricity to microwaves or lasers that you beam back to Earth from the near-side of the Moon (the side always closest to Earth) with a 20km-diameter antenna, and you convert those beams back to electricity at power stations using receiving rectennas. A guidance beacon will make sure that the beam is always going where it is supposed to go (and if not, the power will be instantly cut).

The solar belt would initially be relatively small, but could be grown up to 400 kilometers wide over time. Such a belt could produce more than enough clean energy for all of humanity and then some.

The plan involves construction by robots that are assembled in space and then landed on the Moon, the use of as much materials straight from the Moon's ground as possible, and a team of astronauts to support the robots on the surface of the Moon.

Treehugger http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/06/luna-ring-solar-power-plant-on-the-moon.php

Japan's Moonshot? $21 Billion Invested in Space-Based Solar Power

Moving Towards Space-Based Solar Power
Solar power is very green, and the great big fusion reactor in the sky generates more than enough energy for all of humanity's needs. But if you put solar panels on the surface of the Earth, you have to deal with two big problems: 1) Solar energy bounces off the atmosphere, especially on cloudy days (see pic below), and 2) you don't get power at night. Engineers have had a theoretical solution for both of these problems for a few decades: Put your solar collectors in geostationary orbit (22,300 miles/35,700 km) where they'll get direct sunlight 24/7, and beam down the energy using microwaves. Progress has been slow so far, but Japan is shaking things up.

The Longest Journey Starts With a Single Step
Bloomberg is reporting that "Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp. will join a 2 trillion yen ($21 billion) Japanese project intending to build a giant solar-power generator in space within three decades and beam electricity to earth [...] Japan is developing the technology for the 1-gigawatt solar station, fitted with four square kilometers of solar panels, and hopes to have it running in three decades"

They will be working on one of the essential technologies needed for space-based solar: Wireless energy transmissions.

A research group representing 16 companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., will spend four years developing technology to send electricity without cables in the form of microwaves.

The next step will be figuring out how to reduce the cost of putting all that material in space. This will probably mean cheaper and more efficient launchers, but also lighter solar panels and equipment.

While the project might sound like science-fiction now, it likely that the landscape will be more favorable in 30 years (strict carbon emissions caps will make clean energy more cost-competitive, for example).

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/japan-space-based-solar-power-satellite-21-billions.php