Re: OT: Surely there's an SF story with this.....

On Thu, 29 Aug 2024 14:07:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

Reflect Orbital
>
https://www.reflectorbital.com/lighting
>
is proposing to launch a fleet of orbital mirrors to provide lighting
to nighttime locations on the Earth.
>
They claim they will be able to light up a 5km diameter circle for
4 minutes. They're accepting reservations, but I can't find any
pricing. They expect to start in Q4 2025.
>
I'm *extremely* skeptical. To be even as bright as moonlight,
the mirror would have to appear 1/7 the area of the Moon in
the sky.
>
I can't think of a use case for 4 minutes of light, but they
also talk about using it to power up solar panel systems at
night, which makes no sense.
>
I think its either an art project, or some kind of scam to
fleece investors who are bad at math.
>
Still, very stfnal.
>

https://www.space.com/orbiting-mirror-boost-solar-power-production has
some additional details

I'm not convinced (and I suspect that investing the money into energy
storage would do more) but it doesn't seem complete batshit