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https://www.reflectorbital.com/lighting

by layer8 • 2 years ago

19 8 2 years ago

hengheng• 2 years ago

No mention of numbers. Is this going to be brighter than an Iridium flash or the ISS? Is it going to provide meaningful power density for my solar panels?

More to the point, why does that shop advertise to anybody other than gov agencies with deep pockets and a strong interest in remote sensing?

p1mrx2• 2 years ago

If ChatGPT's math is correct, a point-size flat mirror will project a 5 km beam width at a distance of 500 km: https://chatgpt.com/share/d8858873-0c51-4024-a82d-8cb12922be...

So in order to receive this beam efficiently, you would need a solar array 5 km in diameter with 100% ground coverage. Efficiency decreases if the array is smaller or less dense. Maybe you could use a curved mirror to focus the beam to a smaller diameter, but that seems more difficult than spinning a flat mylar sheet.

Assuming you had such an array, every 1 m^2 of mirror should provide roughly as much power as 1 m^2 of panels on the ground.

jdsnape• 2 years ago

If you can't be sure or know how to verify that ChatGPT's maths is correct, then surely the output is entirely meaningless?

p1mrx2• 2 years ago

It's fairly simple math; I was just being lazy.

Verification: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=5km+%2F+500km+*+1+AU = "1.1 x mean diameter of the sun"

zamadatix2• 2 years ago

According to the application page it is indeed a 5 km beam.

abotsis• 2 years ago

What about other applications? For example lighting for evening events (concerts, sporting events, festivals), burning man.

aagha• 2 years ago

100% hoax

zamadatix2• 2 years ago

The other bits about doing something useful with it are either incredibly foolish or a straight hoax (and I'll eat a shoe on camera if that turns out to be wrong) but the premise of having a spot of light appear for ~4 minutes after dark is plenty doable (in fact, been done before) and depends solely on how much funding they secure before people realize the first half.

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