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Aphs.226 net.space utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!phs!dennis Wed Feb 10 09:28:38 1982 Re: watmath.1678: Mooning Around A synchronous powersat would NOT be in earth's shadow half the time; it's much less than that. The shadow goes directly away from the sun, not outwards at the terminator.

Planar platforms wouldn't tend to tumble; they would tend to align the long axis toward the planet; some sort of stabilizing thruster would be needed.

A better thing than putting two power stations on the Moon is putting three at 120 degree intervals. That way somebody always has a good angle on the sunlight.

If the moon were exactly in the ecliptic, there would be a lunar eclipse every full moon. It's pretty far off, but my books are far, far away and I can't give the right number.

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