Giant Space Mirror

[asian1]

http://www.space-frontier.org/Events/Znamya/

Hello
There are failed plans to create giant mirrors in the space to illuminate parts of the world at night / during winter.

There is a new plan to create giant space mirror:
A. The mirror will be assembled and maintained by robots.
B. The mirror can be folded / expanded and controlled from the ground (it can be turned off by changing the position/direction).

There is a debate about the project:

Pro:
1. Saving energy, reduce pollution.
2. Improving agriculture.
3. Reducing crime rate, accidents.
4. More jobs & globalization (3 shift jobs).
5. Weather control.
6. Help rescue on disaster area / major earthquake.
7. Promote co-operation between various countries.

Cons:
1. Wildlife extinction (bat, turtle, owl etc).
2. Unable to see stars, night sky.
3. There are reports about dangerous effect to human health because lack of Melatonin / Proclatin.

http://www.enlightenmaryland.org/what_light_pollution/effects.asp

What is your opinion about the project?

[iamaboringperson]

Hello

Hello, are you going to reply to this thread? :-)

[blobrana]

Hum,
i think if it ever gets the go ahead it`ll be used for advertising soft-drinks , Viagra etc ....






[i suppose that The Moon, could be regarded as a a sort of light pollutant] :-)

[KennyR]

I can just imagine it. Two years from now, you look up and to see all the twinkly stars but all you can see is a message in the sky:

ENLARGE YOUR...

Hmm, a cloud is blocking the last word. Maybe it's "telescope"?

[odin]

OOooookay....which scientist has been eating too much mushrooms now......

-edit-
Znamya 2.5
Space Reflector
Deployment Date: February 4, 1999

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

News: 2/5/99, Mirror fails to deploy, experiment abandoned.

Yup....I think this idea has a bright future ;-).

[blobrana]

Hum,
 Znamya 1, the first reflecting satellite, was deployed in space for a day in 1993.
The circular reflective fabric did manage to unfurl.
And lit-up small areas, brighter than a Full Moon.

That bright idea, ended up as space junk...


i imagine the russian company went bust...

[Matt_H]

Didn't the most recent James Bond movie have a device similar to this used for purposes of mass destruction?

Seems like this could turn ugly very easily - like ants and a magnifying glass.

[Dan]

asian1 wrote:
What is your opinion about the project?

As long as it´s keept at large urban areas, I think it´s great because it would probably be big savings and those areas is already both ligth and sound polluted.

Why is cityfolk so afraid of the dark?
you know muggers don´t have nightvision neither!

[Dan]

Matt_H wrote:
Didn't the most recent James Bond movie have a device similar to this used for purposes of mass destruction?

Seems like this could turn ugly very easily - like ants and a magnifying glass.

Yep they had. but the forgot about boiling the atmosphere :-)

[Karlos]

I wonder who will be the first to look over their shoulder at it and proclaim "Jeez, that makes my a*se look big!"

[Quixote]

Matt_H mentioned:

Didn't the most recent James Bond movie have a device similar to this used for purposes of mass destruction?

Seems like this could turn ugly very easily - like ants and a magnifying glass.

;-) You're quite right about that.  If you've read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) you'll know that it is a work of Science Fiction detailing the terraforming of one or our neighboring planets.  Toward that end, his colonists created a "soletta."  This was a ring of mirrors in polar orbit around Mars.  Each would reflect sunlight to a portion of the world just at the terminator, where night gave way to day.  The effect was that the sun appeared to rise a little earlier than it really did, and to set correspondingly later.  The longer hours of sunlight were intended to help the planet warm up to temperatures suitable for humans.

Without spoiling anything for those who haven't read the books yet, let's just say that whoever controls such a device would control the world.

[PMC]

Quixote wrote:
Matt_H mentioned:

Didn't the most recent James Bond movie have a device similar to this used for purposes of mass destruction?

Seems like this could turn ugly very easily - like ants and a magnifying glass.

;-) You're quite right about that.  If you've read Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) you'll know that it is a work of Science Fiction detailing the terraforming of one or our neighboring planets.  Toward that end, his colonists created a "soletta."  This was a ring of mirrors in polar orbit around Mars.  Each would reflect sunlight to a portion of the world just at the terminator, where night gave way to day.  The effect was that the sun appeared to rise a little earlier than it really did, and to set correspondingly later.  The longer hours of sunlight were intended to help the planet warm up to temperatures suitable for humans.

Without spoiling anything for those who haven't read the books yet, let's just say that whoever controls such a device would control the world.

Arthur C Clarke's "Tales of Ten Worlds" has a story about a latin American football match where the referee is cooked by reflected sunlight - intended to temporarily dazzle him.  The energies harnessed by a square yard of reflective material are frightening.