A California-based aerospace startup, Reflect Orbital, has ignited intense debate within the scientific community by proposing an ambitious plan to "sell sunlight" using massive mirrors placed in low Earth orbit:
The company's concept involves deploying large reflective satellites that could redirect sunlight onto specific locations on Earth during nighttime hours.
According to Live Science Plus, this technology could provide artificial illumination to extend daylight, boost agricultural productivity, or allow solar panels to operate after sunset.
Reflect Orbital has filed an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to launch its first experimental satellite, known as EARENDIL-1, as early as 2026. If approved and expanded, the company envisions deploying as many as 4,000 orbital mirrors by the end of the decade.
Each mirror would reportedly unfold to approximately 59 feet (18 meters) across and could illuminate an area on Earth roughly 3 miles (5 kilometers) wide.
Reflect Orbital claims the reflected light could be "up to four times brighter than the full moon," with future iterations potentially becoming even larger and more powerful.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31, @11:02AM
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2013/10/using-giant-mirrors-to-light-up-dark-valleys/100613/ [theatlantic.com]
The villages of Rjukan, Norway, and Viganella, Italy, are both situated in deep valleys where mountains block the sun's rays for up to six months every year. To illuminate those darker winter months, the two towns have built gigantic mirrors that track the sun and reflect daylight downwards. Viganella completed its huge computer-controlled mirror in 2006, and Rjukan followed suit just this month, mounting a mirror that will reflect a 600 square meter (6,500 square foot) beam of sunshine into the town square below.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by BsAtHome on Wednesday December 31, @11:32AM (5 children)
So, they will be monetizing the day and night cycle.
You want light during the night? That'll be $2.49 per hour, please.
You want darkness during the day? That'll be $6.49 per hour, please.
You want light during the day? That'll be $49.99 per hour, please.
You want darkness during the night? That'll be $99.99 per hour, please.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31, @01:56PM (3 children)
> You want darkness during the day?
Cute, but that's not the way it works. Yes, a mirror in LEO can be aimed to illuminate a location for some extended time. However, at any given spot on Earth, a mirror/sunshade in LEO might block some of the sun for a very brief time. We're near an airport flight path and perhaps once a year the sun and a plane are at just the right locations that we get a flicker of shadow on our house.
(Score: 4, Informative) by BsAtHome on Wednesday December 31, @02:23PM (2 children)
Not yet... Just wait until they get the Large Mirrors in place and start blocking your garden on a regular basis until you pay up.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31, @07:02PM
> Just wait until they get the Large Mirrors in place
Was going to work the math, but someone already did at https://www.quora.com/How-large-would-an-object-in-low-Earth-orbit-need-to-be-to-eclipse-the-Sun [quora.com]
And that just blocks the sun for a few seconds while it passes over me...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 01, @07:49AM
"That's no Moon"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nho44lGVV8 [youtube.com]
Now that could literally ruin your day...
(Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday January 01, @01:08PM
Hey, Mr Lamppost, what you knowin', I've come to watch your power flowin'.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 5, Interesting) by anotherblackhat on Wednesday December 31, @06:26PM (2 children)
Ignoring for the moment how insanely expensive it is to put things into Low Earth Orbit,
you're also facing a real risk that someone might object to your satellite, violently.
One rock in a counter orbit has a chance to break mirrors every 45 minutes.
I mean yay space and all that, but do you really want to bet there aren't any violent protesters?
(Score: 2) by aafcac on Wednesday December 31, @08:24PM (1 child)
At least it's LEO where things tend to fall out of orbit relatively quickly. But, that being said, there are so many issues in terms of things like Kessler Syndrome, the damage it does to astronomy, and the increased difficulty finding launch windows when there isn't a debris field that you're firing through with enough stuff there to risk damaging the projectiles.
It's well past point where we set up some sort of proper agency to deal with these sorts of things that impact large numbers of people but somehow manage to avoid real regulation. It's bad enough that Elon Musk has been allowed to put up thousands of satellites for his private internet service, now we're talking about potentially diverting sunlight?
(Score: 4, Funny) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 31, @10:47PM
>now we're talking about potentially diverting sunlight?
Yes, and the cost per mirror control doubles with each additional mirror you want to control.
Want to focus ALL 4000 mirrors on the Kremlin simultaneously? Please hold for a special projects agent...
🌻🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31, @07:53PM (6 children)
> unfold to approximately 59 feet (18 meters) across and could illuminate an area on Earth roughly 3 miles (5 kilometers) wide.
They only give one dimension, but anyway. They're proposing to decrease the intensity of the light by a factor of 277 (5000/18) and sell this as agriculturally viable sunlight? Not counting the 30-60% efficiency of the mirrors or additional losses to the atmosphere, I'm sure.
What would be the point? I'm betting those construction lights that you see beside the highway sometimes are much brighter than this. Just plug in some lights.??? This is probably about like using your VCR's flashing clock as a flashlight. wtf?
(Score: 2) by RedGreen on Wednesday December 31, @11:17PM
"What would be the point?"
As it always is with these useless projects, there are rubes out there that need to be fleeced of their money...
"Cervantes definitely was prescient in describing a senile Don fighting against windmills." -- larryjoe on /.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deimtee on Thursday January 01, @12:16AM (4 children)
Um, no. You've compared linear dimensions, and those are most likely circular areas.
Pi r2 and all that.
To about 1 sig figs.
Mirror size = 1000 m2
Illuminated area = 80,000,000m2
Decrease is actually a factor of 80,000.
Sunlight at noon is about 100,000 lux
A bright Full Moon is about 1 lux.
So they might be slightly brighter than a full moon, per mirror. If they focus multiple mirrors on the one area they might get to streetlight levels of illumination, but they aren't going to be growing crops with this setup.
But large mylar mirrors are cheap and light. They could easily scale up from 18m to 100's of metres. Still won't grow crops, but might be saleable as illumination. What's the streetlight bill for a major city?
200 million years is actually quite a long time.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by anubi on Thursday January 01, @02:45AM (1 child)
"But large mylar mirrors are cheap and light."
Will you inadvertantly make a solar sail, acting like a loose radiometer blade and simply sail away in the solar wind?
See Jack Vance's short story "Sail 25" for some drama centered around solar sails.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by deimtee on Thursday January 01, @04:16AM
Solar sails have a pretty low thrust, you're not going to blow away accidentally. But you definitely could use it for orbital adjustments and station-keeping.
200 million years is actually quite a long time.
(Score: 2) by Username on Friday January 02, @05:47PM (1 child)
I imagine they will orient the mirrors similar to a reflection telescope. Probably make a death ray if it's too focused.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Friday January 02, @11:24PM
Making a flat surface of a flexible mylar mirror in space is pretty easy, you just spin it and let centripetal force pull it out flat. Making a parabola good enough to focus it into a death ray would be tough. Funnily enough, getting destructive beams gets easier the bigger the mirror is. Get a mirror 5 km across and focus it down to a 1km spot, you'd be hitting with 25KW/m2. Still not instantly lethal, and you'd be fine standing under a foil umbrella (or large foil hat). :)
It might be useful for power generation. Trouble would be stability of supply, low satellites move pretty fast, and stationary ones are a looooong way away.
200 million years is actually quite a long time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 31, @07:53PM
Pure evil genius at work [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday January 01, @04:36AM
Power out all over, you'd like to continue operations at night without all the hassles of artificial light.
(Score: 4, Funny) by lush7 on Thursday January 01, @08:39AM
...did I just read..
It's not even April Fools yet..