What is humanity doing when the last dark skies will be lit by #reflectorbital.

The beauty of the nightsky is part of our common heritage, already gone in city areas.

#nieuwsuur

@laurabromet.bsky.social

Original post on scicomm.xyz

"Astronomy educates the public; astronomy trains a data- and technology-centred workforce; astronomy supports other sciences, providing a laboratory to physicists and a chance to investigate other worlds to biologists and geologists; astronomy inspires curiosity and art and interest in science […]

Watched a news report about a startup company called #ReflectOrbital wanting to launch 50k mirrors into space to reflect light onto the night areas of the earth. Am I the only one that thinks psychological warfare?

News (All) | Bioclocks Uk

Satellites could disrupt #circadian rhythms globally. Major projects such as #ReflectOrbital and #SpaceX are pushing boundaries, and now is the time to recognise the effect these projects could have on life everywhere. www.bioclocks.uk/news
🧪 #AcademicSky #Scicomm #Chronobiology

The company's name is #reflectorbital... let them know how you feel

Original post on mastodon.social

URGENT:⚠️ Please Write the #FCC to #Oppose Latest #SpaceX World-Changing Plan, Massively Light Polluting #ReflectOrbital Satellites, Which Will End the Night Sky
"Reflect Orbit #satellites will produce a simply incredible level of light #pollution to the degree tt it will end te night as we know […]

Prof. Sam Lawler (@sundogplanets@mastodon.social) DarkSky International just posted their position letter on Reflect Orbital. It is direct and to the point: "Based on current scientific evidence, DarkSky does not see a viable pathway for such syst...

Take a look, read the article, and sign the letter! We don't need or want sunlight on demand. We don't want the consequences of this nonsensical project.

#ReflectOrbital #DarkSky

Original post on gluck.cc

[Add your name to the DarkSky International open letter opposing Reflect Orbital’s proposed orbital illumination system]

“
Orbital illumination systems represent an unprecedented environmental intervention.
…
DarkSky urges our community to sign the open letter to #ReflectOrbital and its […]

Original post on social.vivaldi.net

#Sonnenergie gilt als klimafreundlich, und man denkt immer auch an #Solarpunk dabei, an energetische Selbstermächtigung in einem kapitalistisch geprägten Energiemarkt. Doch auch der Kapitalismus hat die Sonnenenergie mittlerweile für sich entdeckt, und zwar jenseits von Greenwashing. Was der […]

Startup Plans Space Mirrors to Light Earth, Scientists Warn 'Catastrophic' The California-based Reflect Orbital seeks to deploy a constellation of reflectors explicitly designed to direct sunlight to the ground, a plan already

Startup Plans Space Mirrors to Light Earth, Scientists Warn 'Catastrophic'

#FCC #ReflectOrbital #RobertMassey #SamanthaLawler #spacemirrors

Reflect Orbital Eyes Artificial Sun for Night, Sparking Astronomer Alarm Reflect Orbital proposes a commercial service that would bounce sunlight onto specific areas "on demand," aiming to provide intense illumination during

Reflect Orbital Eyes Artificial Sun for Night, Sparking Astronomer Alarm

#astronomycontroversy #nightillumination #ReflectOrbital #Satellites #sunlightondemand

Gökyüzü artık satılık! Uzaydan gelen ışığı sadece zenginler görebilecek ABD merkezli Reflect Orbital adlı şirket, uzaya yerleştireceği dev aynalarla geceleri Güneş ışığını Dünya’ya yansıtmayı planlıyor. “Abonelikli gece ışığı” hizmeti olarak sunulan proje, doğa dengesi ve...

💰 Gökyüzü artık satılık!
ABD’li şirket uzaya dev aynalar kuruyor, geceleri Güneş ışığı “abonelikle” satılacak.
Dolunaydan 4 kat parlak, doğa için büyük tehdit! 🌕🚀
#Uzay #Bilim #ReflectOrbital

🔗 www.sokgazetesi.com.tr/gokyuzu-arti...

Giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight at night? No thank you, astronomers say | CBC News A U.S. company is proposing to 'sell sunlight after dark,' saying it could help power solar farms and provide access to light in emergency situations. Astronomers are not only concerned about what thi...

You worked a long shift, turned the lights out, settled into bed, when all of a sudden the sky outside lights up as if it’s day. This is what could happen if a US co. has its way. #ReflectOrbital is looking to send giant #mirrors in #space to “sell #sunlight after dark.”
www.cbc.ca/news/science...

A bright sun with rays bursting through past dark trees and landscape.

Unlike satellites that reflect sunlight and produce light pollution as a byproduct, the ones by U.S. startup #ReflectOrbital would produce light pollution by design. This would produce sunlight on demand so solar farms can operate after sunset. Read more: buff.ly/cEkVK3k

📸 Marys fotos/ Pixabay.

How do photons propel solar sails? ## Key Takeaways: * Photons, despite lacking mass, possess momentum, enabling them to exert force upon impact. * Solar sails utilize the momentum transfer from photons upon reflection to generate propulsion, a force termed radiation pressure. * The LightSail design maximizes photon collection through its large surface area relative to its mass. * Radiation pressure, while effective in space due to the absence of friction, diminishes with increasing distance from the Sun. Key takeaways sponsored by The Space Store Solar sails, such as this NASA prototype, are thin and lightweight, with a large, reflective surface. Although photons have no mass, they carry momentum; when a photon bounces off a solar sail, some of its momentum is transferred to the sail, which pushes the sail forward. NASA/MSFC/D. Higginbotham **Q: If photons have no mass, how can they propel solar sails like the Planetary Society’s LightSails?** _**Doug Kaupa**_ __ _Council Bluffs, Iowa_ **A:** Photons don’t have mass, but they do have momentum, which is energy associated with motion. If a photon strikes something, it can give some of its momentum to the object it hits. In the case of a solar sail, when light hits the sail’s reflective surface, it bounces off, transferring some of the energy associated with its initial motion to the sail. This force is called radiation pressure, and it pushes the sail slightly in the direction the photon was traveling before it bounced off. Although the energy transferred by a single photon is tiny, there is no friction in the vacuum of space. Each time a photon strikes the solar sail, it gains slightly more energy. The LightSail design is about 344 square feet (32 square meters) in size, compared to its width of only 0.0002 inch (0.00051 centimeter). These dimensions ensure the sail is both lightweight and has a large area to allow many photons to hit it at once. The Planetary Society calculated that its current LightSail mission, LightSail 2, can capture enough momentum from sunlight to accelerate about 0.0023 inch (0.0058 cm) per second, each second. After a month, this acceleration would boost the sail’s speed to nearly 341 mph (550 km/h). Radiation pressure can affect interplanetary dust and even small objects, such as asteroids, over time. But radiation pressure also diminishes with distance from the Sun, so the farther an object is from our star, the smaller the radiation pressure it feels, until this force becomes negligible. _**Alison Klesman** Associate Editor_

@sundogplanets How many people with laser pointers would it take to push #ReflectOrbital into permanent ‘fuck off’ orbit? www.astronomy.com/science/how-do-photons-p...

Prof. Sam Lawler (@sundogplanets@mastodon.social) It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disas...

If you haven't heard of #ReflectOrbital or the risks it poses, you need to read this thread.

Link: mastodon.social/@sundogplane...

#Astronomy

How do photons propel solar sails? ## Key Takeaways: * Photons, despite lacking mass, possess momentum, enabling them to exert force upon impact. * Solar sails utilize the momentum transfer from photons upon reflection to generate propulsion, a force termed radiation pressure. * The LightSail design maximizes photon collection through its large surface area relative to its mass. * Radiation pressure, while effective in space due to the absence of friction, diminishes with increasing distance from the Sun. Key takeaways sponsored by The Space Store Solar sails, such as this NASA prototype, are thin and lightweight, with a large, reflective surface. Although photons have no mass, they carry momentum; when a photon bounces off a solar sail, some of its momentum is transferred to the sail, which pushes the sail forward. NASA/MSFC/D. Higginbotham **Q: If photons have no mass, how can they propel solar sails like the Planetary Society’s LightSails?** _**Doug Kaupa**_ __ _Council Bluffs, Iowa_ **A:** Photons don’t have mass, but they do have momentum, which is energy associated with motion. If a photon strikes something, it can give some of its momentum to the object it hits. In the case of a solar sail, when light hits the sail’s reflective surface, it bounces off, transferring some of the energy associated with its initial motion to the sail. This force is called radiation pressure, and it pushes the sail slightly in the direction the photon was traveling before it bounced off. Although the energy transferred by a single photon is tiny, there is no friction in the vacuum of space. Each time a photon strikes the solar sail, it gains slightly more energy. The LightSail design is about 344 square feet (32 square meters) in size, compared to its width of only 0.0002 inch (0.00051 centimeter). These dimensions ensure the sail is both lightweight and has a large area to allow many photons to hit it at once. The Planetary Society calculated that its current LightSail mission, LightSail 2, can capture enough momentum from sunlight to accelerate about 0.0023 inch (0.0058 cm) per second, each second. After a month, this acceleration would boost the sail’s speed to nearly 341 mph (550 km/h). Radiation pressure can affect interplanetary dust and even small objects, such as asteroids, over time. But radiation pressure also diminishes with distance from the Sun, so the farther an object is from our star, the smaller the radiation pressure it feels, until this force becomes negligible. _**Alison Klesman** Associate Editor_

@sundogplanets How many people with laser pointers would it take to push #ReflectOrbital into permanent ‘fuck off’ orbit? www.astronomy.com/science/how-do-photons-p...

Original post on mstdn.social

@sundogplanets

»If one 54 metre satellite is 15,000 times fainter than the midday Sun, you would need 3,000 of them to achieve 20% of the midday Sun.

Another issue: satellites at a 625km altitude move at 7.5 km/s. So a satellite will be within 1,000 km of a given location for max. 3.5 minutes […]

Assessing Astronomical Impacts of Reflect Orbital’s Proposed Satellite System This survey is being conducted by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) to gather input from astronomers, observatories, and night sky users worldwide regarding the potential impacts of Reflect Orbi...

Tell the American Astronomical Society you DON'T want Reflect Orbital to shine a giant light on you.

Assessing Astronomical Impacts of Reflect Orbital’s Proposed Satellite System
#Astronomy #ReflectOrbital #Satellites
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...