@themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com
FCC approves giant space mirror as astronomers warn of risks to the night sky
2026-07-20 05:12 UTC
Replies (11)
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@switcheroo@lemmy.world 2026-07-20 05:53
Let’s beam down more heat! We totally need that on our rapidly heating planet.
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@Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 2026-07-20 05:55
producing a beam roughly five kilometers wide. Oh, nice, now they won’t need these super expensive helicopters anymore to spot the fleeing leftists terrorists at night.
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@MajesticTechie@feddit.uk 2026-07-20 06:04
I recall in Futurama this didn’t end well
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@20cello@lemmy.world 2026-07-20 06:29
Of course this will benefit the whole planet…
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@echodot@feddit.uk 2026-07-20 07:23
Oh not this again. I agree the it sets a stupid precedent but react itself is irrelevant. Far apart from the fact that it’s only going to be over any given area of the earth for about a minute tops, but also pointless because it’s only 18 m wide, so you won’t be paying for sunlight, you’ll be paying for a random spec in the sky to be switched on. This is all a giant con where they’re trying to get a bunch of investment money from idiots that don’t know basic physics but do have a lot of money. I’d actually put a reasonable amount of money on this never actually launching.
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@Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2026-07-20 08:01
orbiting debris will destroy the mirror so fast, plus solar winds.
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@MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2026-07-20 09:28
One. Which is a venture grift anyway. They know they can’t approve space mirrors.
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@GarboDog@lemmy.world 2026-07-20 09:34
What?! Nooo we thought that was a fucking joke wtf???
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@dsilverz@catodon.rocks 2026-07-20 09:57
We know this ain't gonna happen (precisely because of a pesky thing called "laws of physics"), but it's surely paving the way for similar deranged ideas such as "orbital data centers", as this "Sun-as-a-Service" bullshittery moves the Overton window to where techbros want it to be, as well to (failed) attempts on pretending the laws of physics can be bent to capitalist interests. Even sadder is seeing how other regulatory and space agencies worldwide (你好, 国家航天局! नमस्ते, अंतरिक्ष विभाग!) seem to be so quiet in this regard, as if all these deranged techbro ideas wouldn't affect the skies over there... !technology@lemmy.world
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@GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 2026-07-20 22:15
unrelated question. if you focus thousands of medium or low wattage lasers to a single point, will their wattage combine to equal that of a high powered laser?
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@pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2026-07-20 05:27
The Federal Communications Commission approved Reflect Orbital’s plan to launch Eärendil-1, an experimental satellite carrying an 18-meter-wide reflective surface. The mirror would redirect sunlight toward a targeted area after dark, producing a beam roughly five kilometers wide. The July 9 authorization applies to one demonstration satellite, not the enormous constellation the California company eventually hopes to build. Reflect Orbital has described plans for more than 50,000 mirrors by 2035, creating what it calls “sunlight on demand.”