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.
