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Controversial startup's plan to 'sell sunlight' using giant mirrors in space would be 'catastrophic' and 'horrifying,' astronomers warn (www.livescience.com)

submitted 1 day ago by themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/technology@lemmy.world

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https://archive.ph/3WZrp

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.

(page 4) 15 comments

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[–] JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

This reminds me of the venetian shade idea. 'Trillions of dollars' hahaha okay let's see who wants to pitch in.

[–] GuyLivingHere@lemmy.ca 0 points 3 hours ago

Yeah, mirrors seem like a huge problem. Why not go with photovoltaics - a decades-old, proven technology, and just beam energy to a ground-based storage facility to be used later?

I know some amount will be lost in conversion and transmission, but you could still have underground facilities in cities providing extended daylight for good reasons, like to help people with seasonal affective disorder, or to grow crops out of season.

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