California-based startup Reflect Orbital aims to build a swarm of 4,000 giant mirrors in low Earth orbit to “sell sunlight” to customers at night. Experts warn that the mirrors could mess with telescopes, blind stargazers and impact the environment.
Reflect Orbital, which was founded in 2021, has recently taken the first step in a scheme to sell sunlight at night by bouncing solar rays off giant “reflectors” that can redirect the vital resource almost anywhere on our planet. By doing this, the company aims to extend daylight hours in specific locations, thus allowing paying customers to generate solar power, grow crops and replace urban lighting.
But experts say it is a wildly impractical plan that should never get off the ground. What’s more, the resulting light pollution could devastate ground-based astronomy, distract aircraft pilots and even blind stargazers.
This exact same technology naturally allows capitalists to force everyone to pay not to have their sunlight blocked during the day.
I mean, the technology certainly has benefits, not in reflecting sunlight onto the dark side of the Earth. Nobody fucking needs that. Instead it should be used to shade a few percent of sunlight in order to control Earth’s warming climate.
But rich people gotta fuck things up. No single entity must ever be allowed to control orbital megastructures.
This is obviously a scam directed at venture capitalists. There’s no way this is going to happen.
Okay, but can we execute these people for putting this concept into the world anyway?
Suncoin for sale.
What experts? Give me my Dyson spehere!
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This is not just simple bullshit this is part of a greater Solar Radiation Modification effort and is highly likely to actually become a thing because we are going to block the sun we aren’t going to stop using oil.
So, they want to play God, eh!!?? :-(
I won’t lie, the idea of sunlight on demand sounds interesting… but then capitalism ruins it before the environmentalists even had a chance. (not trying to downplay environmental science here, just being cheeky)
Why would you need sunlight on demand?
Not “needed”, just “cool” in a “ooh, the future!” Sense… at least until you get into all the environmental and sociological issues.
For enlightenment?
Tried living in Svalbard? Right now it’s 24/7 darkness
Find a way to make money from darkness and you are a rich man. :p
I laughed a bit at “No daylight period”…
You have watched the movie The Thing right? Takes place in the arctic somewhere, quite scary.
Maybe try not to live in the Arctic Circle?
The future we hoped for: Dyson sphere, free unlimited energy
The future silicon valley shitlords are hoping for: let us sell you sunlight (or maybe lack thereof, wink wink)
Whatever happened to the 12 Jasons? They used to stop things like this. I imagine they were disbanded by the regime.
please stop fucking with the delicate balance of nature, its the only nature i’ve found that works for me
Last time some rich fuck started screwing with people’s access to natural sunlight, it didn’t end well for him.
Yes. Let’s make the planet even hotter… Fucking morons.
They’re not going to reflect sunlight that wouldn’t otherwise hit the planet. This won’t add extra energy to the planet, just move it around a bit.
Literally a screenshot from their website
If I understand correctly, those mirrors will reflect sun rays, that would otherwise be wasted across the universe, to earth.
So, you are fundamentally wrong. The very idea is to reflect sunlight that wouldn’t otherwise hit the planer. This WILL add extra energy to the planet.
Even if they used sunlight that bounces off earth, they would still cause issues, just a little less serious. This is because they would be trapping energy that tries to leave the earth.
They’re supposed to be positioned in low earth orbit. Apart from a very slim belt that light would’ve hit the planet anyway.
Did you bother to read the 3rd part of my previous comment?
Are you being serious? I can’t tell, but if you are, that’s not how this works.
You either steal energy from somewhere/someone to redirect it around the planet where it’s dark, or, you add energy from what is not hitting the planet in the first place.
You can’t have a situation where you aren’t stealing someone’s sunlight and you aren’t adding sunlight
Are you serious? Taking energy from one part of the planet and putting it somewhere else isn’t going to make the planet hotter, like the previous commenter stated. Taking water from 1 lake and putting it in a neighboring lake, isn’t going to add or retract from the total water.
We do take energy from one place and put it in another. In the form of fossil fuels. And we ship it with what energy now?
What does that have to do with mirrors in space?
Rich people should not have the choice to have fucking sunlight in the middle of the night.
I just imagine the first places that put in in-door lightnig like “here now you can work later in the day” now they will be like “Oh look you can work 24/7 now it’s never dark anymore”.
We can already do that. Even outdoors, you put up sports field type lighting.
