rxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Not The Onion@lemmy.worldEnglish · 23 days agoReflect Orbital sells sunlight at night, but don't trust that fancy videomashable.comexternal-linkmessage-square6fedilinkarrow-up11arrow-down10file-textcross-posted to: technology@lemmy.world
arrow-up11arrow-down1external-linkReflect Orbital sells sunlight at night, but don't trust that fancy videomashable.comrxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Not The Onion@lemmy.worldEnglish · 23 days agomessage-square6fedilinkfile-textcross-posted to: technology@lemmy.world
minus-squaredeegeese@sopuli.xyzlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up0·22 days 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.
minus-squareMaggoty@lemmy.worldlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up0arrow-down1·22 days agoOkay but can we make that 1 km hot enough to burn everything inside of it? For science of course.
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.
Okay but can we make that 1 km hot enough to burn everything inside of it?
For science of course.