From: Eugene Leitl (Eugene.Leitl@lrz.uni-muenchen.de)
Date: Sat Dec 28 1996 - 09:49:47 MST
On Fri, 27 Dec 1996, Kennita Watson wrote:
> >Moon advertisment space for rent? Check out alt.chrome.the.moon (_not_
> >affiliated with alt.pave.the.earth). Seriously though, with von-Neumann
> >probes this should be easy to do, using synchronously movable mirrors
> >one might even do animation.
> >
> I think this is a waste of time. The moon makes a fine light, but it
Alt.chrome.the.moon was initiated to overcome the problem of moon's poor
albedo: though chrome absorbs intensively in IR, the reflectance spectrum
in the visible is quite flat. (Of course aluminum/silicon is pretty
lustrous as well, no need to take chroming literally).
> isn't big enough to print anything on that you could read. All screwing
But a signet needs not to contain fine print, the corporate identity of
"Coca Cola" is easily visible even on a thumbnail. (I must admit I am
just being silly, putting advertisements on the moon would be just a side
effect of applied selenology, not an ends in itself).
> with it would likely do is dim the light and piss people off. I certainly
You can increase the albedo, and dynamically track the reflectors, as well.
> know that if you dimmed the moon _I'd_ be pissed off. I'm also not
What would you do, if we started mining the moon? "Chroming" the moon
(covering it with solar collectors) in the course of a few decades won't
look pretty -- but we need the resources.
> prepared to guarantee that there aren't species that depend on the moon
> being just the way it is for their survival -- and for me that would be
Insects navigate by the moon, that's the reason why their system gets
screwed up by lanterns. I don't think we have any other choice than mining
the moon, though, so the question is quite academic. See rainforests.
> the last straw. How many species might not be able to mate if there were
> less light, or might all be eaten if there were more, or couldn't see their
> food if the light were a different color, or whatever?
>
> Go play your games with the moon over a manmade planet.
Planets are pointless, unless disassembled.
> Kennita
>
P.S. Apart from the poets/lovers there are members of an another
profession, clamoring about polluting the skies with light. Astronomers
do not rage against the dying of the light, no, quite vice versa. First
the advent of these sodium and mercury lights, which foul up spectroscopy,
then it is the threat of luminous hardware hanging in the skies, as some
Russians proposed to illuminate their tundra cities, simply outrageous!
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