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

On 9/3/2024 10:58 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 9/3/2024 8:30 PM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 9/3/2024 11:44 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:

On 9/3/2024 1:08 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:

On 9/3/2024 11:04 AM, Mad Hamish wrote:

On Fri, 30 Aug 2024 13:31:29 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>

On 8/30/2024 2:39 AM, Mad Hamish wrote:

On Thu, 29 Aug 2024 13:29:43 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
>

On 8/29/2024 1:07 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:

Reflect Orbital
>
https://www.reflectorbital.com/lighting
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I think its either an art project, or some kind of scam to
fleece investors who are bad at math.
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Still, very stfnal.
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pt

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"Live Free or Die" by John Ringo is close to the concept.  The
protagonist uses millions of mirrors by Sol to melt metal heavy
asteroids and protect Earth from invaders coming through the new Star Gate.

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I'm hoping that they'll be well short of that level

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What level ?
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The level that melts heavy metal asteroids (and also blows up
spaceships iirc)

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And is a weapon of mass destruction if pointed at the Earth.
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pt

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Better have failsafes.
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But then you wouldn't have a story for the book!

 But there would be no one left on Earth to read the story !
 

And how many books are out there where Earth doesn't exist anymore or at least plays no part in the story?
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky dirty old man.