rxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Not The Onion@lemmy.worldEnglish · 1 month agoReflect Orbital sells sunlight at night, but don't trust that fancy videomashable.comexternal-linkmessage-square15fedilinkarrow-up152arrow-down12file-text
arrow-up150arrow-down1external-linkReflect Orbital sells sunlight at night, but don't trust that fancy videomashable.comrxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Not The Onion@lemmy.worldEnglish · 1 month agomessage-square15fedilinkfile-text
minus-squaretal@lemmy.todaylinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up7·edit-21 month ago“I want a spot, but I want all of my sunlight focused onto a spot about a centimeter across. I’ll give you the coordinates.”
minus-squaredeegeese@sopuli.xyzlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up1arrow-down1·1 month agoBecause the sun is not a point source but a disk half a degree across, you can’t focus the sun tighter than about a 1km spot from a mirror in low earth orbit.
“I want a spot, but I want all of my sunlight focused onto a spot about a centimeter across. I’ll give you the coordinates.”
Because the sun is not a point source but a disk half a degree across, you can’t focus the sun tighter than about a 1km spot from a mirror in low earth orbit.