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Word: castruccio (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
Dates: during 1958-1958
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Usage:

...major needs of a lunar colony will be electric power. Importing chemical fuel would be prohibitively expensive. Even a nuclear power plant would be an almost impossible cargo for earth-moon transportation. But the moon's vacuum, says Dr. Castruccio, makes conventional power plants unnecessary. The essential parts of a photoelectric tube, which on earth must be enclosed in vacuum-tight glass, can be laid out on the moon's airless surface, where they will produce electricity whenever sunlight hits them...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Science: Lunar Electron Farm | 9/22/1958 | See Source »

...Castruccio's lunar power plant (which he calls an "electron farm") is nothing but a thin plastic sheet coated with cesium or some other material that gives off electrons when struck by light. On earth these electrons would get nowhere; they would be captured immediately by atmospheric atoms. On the airless moon the electrons could be collected by a wire mesh. Flowing out of the mesh, they would form a direct electric current...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Science: Lunar Electron Farm | 9/22/1958 | See Source »

According to Dr. Castruccio, a one-acre electron farm will produce 1,200 kilowatts, enough to run 20,000 60-watt light bulbs. The plant will weigh 1.7 Ibs. per kw. and cost (on earth) $3.50 per kw. Since the farm can have any desired acreage, Dr. Castruccio feels that power supply should not be a principal problem for a lunar colony...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: Science: Lunar Electron Farm | 9/22/1958 | See Source »

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