I have a question

[gnarledreaper]

Would it be possible to harness energy from the orbit of moons?

 

I had an idea about extending alternators to near the orbit of the moon and having a solar powered magnetic field generator built on the moon so when the moon passes close to each alternator it induces a current in the device, the energy then transferred back to earth, would this be possible, would the power generated by too negligible for it to be practical?

 

If we could build that, would it work?

[granpa]

much easier to use the tides

[md65536]

Would it be possible to harness energy from the orbit of moons?

 

I had an idea about extending alternators to near the orbit of the moon and having a solar powered magnetic field generator built on the moon so when the moon passes close to each alternator it induces a current in the device, the energy then transferred back to earth, would this be possible, would the power generated by too negligible for it to be practical?

 

If we could build that, would it work?

I don't think this would be practical.

 

Assuming you had a stable orbit (orbiting in the opposite direction that the moon orbits relative to Earth might work?), then extracting energy would involve some net force between the moon and "alternator", which would quickly pull it out of a stable orbit. Unless it's possible to extract energy from the process of returning to a stable orbit? Eg. every orbit might involve "sling shotting" around the moon and then extracting energy while slowing down.

 

I don't know if that's possible but I can't imagine it being practical compared to other possible methods, given the complications and the relatively low power output I'd expect.