FCC approves test of space mirror to light night sky

Post by kristjank » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:02 PM UTC

8cvor6j844qw_d6 wrote: post #28

ben_w wrote: post #10

They seem to be talking about each satellite managing the luminosity of the full moon over a few square kilometres, and getting a few tens of thousands of them. Even if you ignoring how much drag these must have, and hence how much electrical power you'd need for an ion drive just to keep them up, each spot being a few km across (and only getting light while the satellite is over your horizon) is just not compelling.…

> relatively easy to redesign as weapons There is a fiction I've read years ago that mentioned satellites becoming makeshift weapons by overheating exposed objects (think reactors, gas trucks, oil refineries) by acting as a solar furnace [1] via mirrors. Not sure/don't recall how it deals with practical issues such as clouds and distance/intensity, but good enough for a story I guess. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…

Post by Cthulhu_ » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:02 PM UTC

dheera wrote: post #59

gcr wrote: post #24

Wonder what would happen if a hacker focused all ten thousand of them on a single area for an hour or two. Sounds like a really energy-efficient way to demolish a city. X Wing: Wedge’s Gamble (1996) by Michael Stackpole shows the rebel alliance using similar tricks during the battle of Coruscant.

I don't think 50000 60-ft mirrors at the height they intend to fly would cause that to happen. Not enough light gathering power. 50000 60-ft mirrors is about the same area as a single mirror 2.5 miles across. So the area of the mirrors is about the area of a city. You gather as much light as the city itself in regular daytime. If you focused all of that perfectly efficiently onto a city, that city would just look lik…

Post by Cthulhu_ » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

GlassOwAter wrote: post #18

andwur wrote: post #15

How are the economics of this idea meant to be viable? The proposed business model is to park hundreds of millions to billion dollars of satellites in orbit, plus the costs to maintain and operate them, to meet the goal of selective area illumination and solar power. Ignoring the issue of cloud cover, which still seems to be an impediment. That's going to need to directly compete with terrestrial energy storage techn…

Think of the military benefits.

Post by Cthulhu_ » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:05 PM UTC

deadbabe wrote: post #16

andwur wrote: post #15

How are the economics of this idea meant to be viable? The proposed business model is to park hundreds of millions to billion dollars of satellites in orbit, plus the costs to maintain and operate them, to meet the goal of selective area illumination and solar power. Ignoring the issue of cloud cover, which still seems to be an impediment. That's going to need to directly compete with terrestrial energy storage techn…

The revenue potential is huge. Think of public events where people might want to illuminate the area as daylight for several hours. Galas, sports, concerts, parties, etc.. They will all pay top dollar and they have the funds. Could get sponsors, "Today's sunlight brought to you by NordVPN"

Post by cindyllm » Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC

dofm wrote: post #50

ben_w wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only non-marginal application for this is military, surely. I think so, but even then it's a heck of a lot of work to make it useful for that. > Farming? Don't plants need night too? Does harvesting need the sun anymore? Mostly limited by other things, hence why there's only limited farming in the Sahara, relatively little phytoplankton in the North Atlantic Gyre. > But being able to illuminate a war zone with…

I guess it has policing applications, marginally. But most police forces just use helicopters and night vision, and ultimately rely on the disruptive sound of the helicopter to bring people out to look for whoever they are chasing; the noise of a helicopter makes people vigilant. I just don't really get it.