Jay asked the Coalition for Space Exploration: " Why haven't I heard of NASA or another organization building a large solar reflector for bouncing rays on to the Moon's darkside for energy needed for the long lunar night?"

Answer from Jim Banke at Cape Canaveral:

Jay, you're on to something thoughtful and potentially very cool, but first we have to dispel a commonly held belief that is perpetuated everytime someone picks up a certain Pink Floyd recording, and that is there is no such thing as the Dark Side of the Moon. There is, however, a far side to the Moon, but it gets light just as much as the side that faces the Earth. The Moon's phases should offer proof enough. Remember that the Moon rotates once every 27.3 days, the same amount of time it takes to orbit the Earth. The result is we see basically the same half of the Moon all the time.

So no matter what side of the Moon you're on, the long lunar night is still just shy of 14 days. The sun will come up again, negating the need for solar reflectors. But think about being on the far side of the Moon and needing to communicate with Earth. In that case you will need some kind of satellite in orbit over the Moon to bounce the signals from the far side of the Moon to the Earth and back again. Radio reflectors, not solar reflectors.

Finally, don't lose interest in your solar reflector idea. There are many people who would like to see the idea of a Solar Power Satellite become a reality. In this case, large solar reflectors would concentrate the sun's energy and then the satellite would beam that energy down to Earth in the form of microwaves. Giant receivers on the ground would gather the energy from space and turn it into electricity we all could use. It's a pretty wild idea but has a better chance of becoming a reality every day as new space entrepreneurs seek to drive down the costs of flying into space.

Thanks for asking.