this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2026
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[–] reksas@sopuli.xyz 4 points 5 hours ago

i wonder how easy it would be to build something that can reach the orbit and collide with the damn thing to deorbit it, if this nightmare ever becomes reality

[–] PierceTheBubble@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 hours ago

Spotlight, uh, moonlight, uh, eyesore get your fucking aim right 🎢

[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 18 points 14 hours ago

This thing will never materialize. It's a vapor-project for stupid people to pour money into.

[–] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 19 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

For as long as there has been humankind, we have gazed up at the night sky, for comfort, for romance, for meditation, for curiosity, etc. It has been a core human experience, evolutionarily hard-wired into our humanity and psyche.

Now these Sociopathic Ferengi are going to steal that experience from every future human being, for profit.

[–] AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml 2 points 13 hours ago

Reminds me of the horrific ending to the movie Hancock (2008)

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 5 points 14 hours ago

I live in the city man, I'm not going to notice shit.

[–] Someone8765210932@lemmy.world 12 points 18 hours ago

I'm pretty sure I heard about this a while ago and the math just doesn't math.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 19 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

Cartoon Country.

A very unserious place with very serious problems.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 4 points 17 hours ago

Naw, the Simpsons was implying a far more useful sun blocking device. What the mirror is has much more impact and is in space.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 24 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

fcc is not a science based department. they should have no say at all over environmental endeavors

[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

They don't, which is why they can't prohibit this satellite. It meets all their requirements regarding radio interference.

The Satellite should absolutely be stopped, but the FCC isn't the agency to do it.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 45 minutes ago (1 children)
[–] cheat700000007@lemmy.world 1 points 34 minutes ago

Effectively not

[–] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 20 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I was just postulating to a friend, that if we built a huge array of solar panels, set out in a pattern not unlike solar sails, and deployed them out in-between the Earth and the Sun, we could block an appreciable amount of heat, which might act as a way to slow down climate change on our planet. Additionally this array could be connected in a grid, making it a huge space station, and energy source, where we could potentially use it as a base to start collecting and mining asteroids.

And then I read about these dumb mother fuckers who want to redirect sunlight back at the earth, making climate change worse, all to replace a couple flood lights? How fucking stupid is the person who brought this to reality? Jesus fucking christ.

[–] nullify3112@lemmy.world 10 points 20 hours ago

Someone needs to read the Dyson Sphere paper: https://archive.org/download/dyson-1960-search-for-artificial-stellar-sources-of-infrared

(The paper was written as a sarcastic take on SETI sinking money into frivolous research of extra-terrestrial intelligence.)

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Yah, I can't see anything that could go wrong with this. /s

[–] DasSkelett@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 16 hours ago

Emphasis on I can't see anything

[–] carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone 81 points 1 day ago (1 children)

thankfully the us is the only country that has a sky so only their government’s approval is needed πŸ˜πŸ‘

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago

This is an important point, and partly why you're not seeing ads up in the night sky just yet.

[–] Godric@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Why the fuck is every dystopian industrialist naming their shit after Tolkein? Does an artificial moon designed to fuck the natural order sound like something he would want to endorse?

[–] cheat700000007@lemmy.world 1 points 32 minutes ago

Like many other things today, Peter's fault

[–] turmacar@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They don't have the literacy / abstract thinking necessary to understand themes and like the 'vibes' of nerdy things being cool now.

[–] Zarobi@aussie.zone 1 points 1 hour ago

These corporate jerks see themselves as Aragorn but in reality they're Wormtongue

[–] Mearcfara@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago

Elon likely never read Foundation, and it's frustrating that he's getting credit for it.

I do firmly put that on the people not doing their research, though. We should absolutely be bullying the shit out of people for being disingenuous in this way.

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[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

If only we had these things called electric lights.

[–] TipRing@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

It would be a lot cheaper and easier to just stop burning fossil fuels. We could just take the money for this and invest in renewables.

[–] Ohmmy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Sure but capitalists want to own the sun for renewables.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 42 minutes ago* (last edited 41 minutes ago)

Put up portable solar panels in a park and watch people loose their mind that you are getting something for free (minus cost of panels and battery).

People will literally stand there trying to find a law you are breaking.

[–] LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So uh... Florida made "Geoengineering and Weather Modification Activities" illegal.

So are they going to launch that into space from another state, because one would think launching such out of cape canaveral would be off limits

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 8 points 22 hours ago

"Geoengineering and Weather Modification Activities" illegal.

That's only when "the Jews TM" do it. When its capitalism then fine! See they are still spewing carbon into the atmosphere in Florida but they haven't banned internal combustion engines, and they keep burning coal!

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 38 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's a lot of fuckery afoot as far as space goes. There are even companies trying to get world governments to allow them to put satellites in space so ads can be beamed into the night sky. I made a video about it if anyone's bored.

The good news is that the scientific community fought back hard against it.

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 5 points 20 hours ago

I support jettisoning corporations into space.

[–] switcheroo@lemmy.world 109 points 1 day ago (11 children)

Let's beam down more heat! We totally need that on our rapidly heating planet.

[–] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 35 minutes ago

Lets send that heat down in a large vertical column piercing the entire way thru the atmosphere!

Birds can cook themselves in it!

Nobody will get rained on near this beam, so less big money tied up in umbrellas!

And think of the tornados that will form!

This thing will create the need for so much progress to undo its effects!

Brilliant!

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[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

The illumination would last only a few minutes at one location before the mirror required repointing. Reflect Orbital says the technology could extend solar power production after sunset, illuminate construction areas and assist rescue teams working in darkness.

Flare guns already do this for a lot cheaper. They even come in a choice of colours.

[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 day ago (7 children)

The company has also argued that reflected sunlight could provide temporary lighting without diesel generators or permanent ground infrastructure.

Sure it just requires that you build a giant precision mirror array, launch it into orbit, and then constantly monitor and position it from the ground, but god damn if you won't need a bulky, polluting flashlight ever again.

What an absolute fucking joke of a proposal. Yeah, let's blanket the earth in mirrors so that we can light up some random construction site temporarily.

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[–] l3mming@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Yes, because the one thing we really need is more heat on earth.

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