<![CDATA[I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much.]]>I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. They are trying to provide expensive, dangerous "help" for problems that already have better, cheaper, less destructive processes in place.

The one thing this article fails to mention is not only could the light from orbit go out at any second, it would be constantly moving, making all the shadows slowly swing around the light source's motion. I've never done any search and rescue, but this seems extremely unhelpful.

https://darksky.org/news/a-rehearsal-for-space-mirrors-leaves-california-rescuers-unconvinced/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/9896ec55-3c1e-4dd3-a085-88e34d1a4fa5/i-hate-reflect-orbital-so-very-very-much.RSS for NodeFri, 23 Oct 2026 00:24:34 GMTThu, 22 Oct 2026 18:16:42 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:18:38 GMT]]>@lucyruthe
I just Followed you 🚀

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/117477209052869344/statuses/117486172163942907https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/117477209052869344/statuses/117486172163942907Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:18:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:17:06 GMT]]>@michael_w_busch @sundogplanets 😡

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://m.ai6yr.org/users/ai6yr/statuses/117486166128610697https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://m.ai6yr.org/users/ai6yr/statuses/117486166128610697Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:17:06 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:13:45 GMT]]>@sundogplanets

Also, paging @ai6yr for a professional search-and-rescue opinion.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/michael_w_busch/statuses/117486152929741212https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/michael_w_busch/statuses/117486152929741212Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:13:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:11:07 GMT]]>@sundogplanets

they intend to leave the people with nothing, not even the stars above

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/ap/users/116999290855594545/statuses/117486142618253927https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/ap/users/116999290855594545/statuses/117486142618253927Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:11:07 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:01:53 GMT]]>@sundogplanets

Vladimir Syromyatnikov: "We could use orbiting mirrors to illuminate towns in Siberia in the winter."

1990s Siberian towns: "We have electrical lights over here."

Evidently not much has changed in the last 30 years...

(Syromyatnikov at least admitted that his designs were originally for solar sails.)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/michael_w_busch/statuses/117486106281619910https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/michael_w_busch/statuses/117486106281619910Thu, 22 Oct 2026 19:01:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:57:43 GMT]]>@sundogplanets I thought this was a post about Elite Dangerous for a second there

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/bdf2121cc3334b35b6ecda66e471/statuses/117486089864619870https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/bdf2121cc3334b35b6ecda66e471/statuses/117486089864619870Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:57:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:52:17 GMT]]>@sundogplanets
all the supposed useful cases they come up with are just alibis, pretexts to make govt and people swallow their shit.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pouet.chapril.org/users/bituur_esztreym/statuses/117486068508351382https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pouet.chapril.org/users/bituur_esztreym/statuses/117486068508351382Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:52:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:49:42 GMT]]>@sundogplanets if only there were some way to provide light portably on earth without using a satellite... It could flash and make light... Perhaps we could call it a portable illuminator! Having lights like this would make travel at night possible, imagine if we could put them on the front of cars!

Too bad such technology is impossible.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/rbmath/statuses/117486058345587490https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mathstodon.xyz/users/rbmath/statuses/117486058345587490Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:49:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:48:57 GMT]]>@sundogplanets I still don't understand their business model and why anyone would fund them.]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pirati.ca/objects/ec054ce7-186a-da5a-99af-794374378854https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pirati.ca/objects/ec054ce7-186a-da5a-99af-794374378854Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:48:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:41:25 GMT]]>@Pepijn @sundogplanets

It also fundamentally limits "natural disaster" lighting basically to earthquakes. Volcano? Ash. Hurricane and extreme rains? Clouds. So quakes with clear skies. And then marginally helpful, when manipulating the experience, minus the moving lights. It's just absurd.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/knud/statuses/117486025826352288https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/knud/statuses/117486025826352288Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:41:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:40:11 GMT]]>@sundogplanets

They're trying to find a use for the shitty product they had the gall to bring to production... they are trying to fix a problem they created with poor results, in any other time this would be an immediate "cease production, fire all engineers" type of situation but since we're in the "techbrocene", here we are.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/oscarfalcon/statuses/117486020954104346https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/oscarfalcon/statuses/117486020954104346Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:40:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:27:03 GMT]]>@Pepijn Yeah. They never mention clouds...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sundogplanets/statuses/117485969294159765https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sundogplanets/statuses/117485969294159765Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:27:03 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:24:47 GMT]]>@lucyruthe The mirror is just mylar, so it's not too bad debris-wise. It will get shredded by micrometeorites and micro-debris fairly quickly, and be even less coherent, which isn't great.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sundogplanets/statuses/117485960427693171https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sundogplanets/statuses/117485960427693171Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:24:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:24:45 GMT]]>They also casually mention how even the marginal gain is based on manipulation as "Reflect Orbital placed white, glossy boxes about four feet long in the search area, rather than the weighted rescue manikins teams often use in training.".

And clouds.

@sundogplanets

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Pepijn/statuses/117485960295876951https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.online/users/Pepijn/statuses/117485960295876951Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:24:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:23:49 GMT]]>@robpumphrey They were just crowing about having secured 2 more launches via an Indian company, so no, VC collapse hasn't happened yet

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sundogplanets/statuses/117485956563819151https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/sundogplanets/statuses/117485956563819151Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:23:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:22:19 GMT]]>@sundogplanets
Hopefully they are in the final throes of VC collapse.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodonapp.uk/users/robpumphrey/statuses/117485950708762796https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodonapp.uk/users/robpumphrey/statuses/117485950708762796Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:22:19 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I hate Reflect Orbital so very very much. on Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:20:10 GMT]]>@sundogplanets

I'm no expert on these topics, but I keep thinking about how a giant space mirror is at risk of impact with the constantly increasing satellites. Isn't it all just a recipe for kessler syndrome?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/lucyruthe/statuses/117485942233587536https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/lucyruthe/statuses/117485942233587536Thu, 22 Oct 2026 18:20:10 GMT