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

On 29/08/2024 19:07, Cryptoengineer 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.

Area?
Start here: the Moon is quite dark (Pink Floyd,
"It's All Dark, Really").  I take albedo 0.12
to mean that it would be 8 times brighter
if painted white.  Also it sheds light in all
directions.  And, without checking your article,
I assume the mirror will be /nearer/.
My bathroom mirror has an apparent size much
larger than the Moon.

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.

Pop concert, one song.  Or the _Romeo and Juliet_
balcony scene.  Or boil an egg.

I think its either an art project, or some kind of scam to
fleece investors who are bad at math.
 Still, very stfnal.
 pt