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Re:Apply for Sunshine by hengheng on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @10:47AM (#41380140)
No mention of numbers. Is this going to be brighter than an Iridium flash or the ISS? Is it going to provide meaningful power density for my solar panels?

More to the point, why does that shop advertise to anybody other than gov agencies with deep pockets and a strong interest in remote sensing?

Re:Apply for Sunshine by p1mrx on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @02:48PM (#41382849)
If ChatGPT's math is correct, a point-size flat mirror will project a 5 km beam width at a distance of 500 km: https://chatgpt.com/share/d8858873-0c51-4024-a82d-8cb12922be...

So in order to receive this beam efficiently, you would need a solar array 5 km in diameter with 100% ground coverage. Efficiency decreases if the array is smaller or less dense. Maybe you could use a curved mirror to focus the beam to a smaller diameter, but that seems more difficult than spinning a flat mylar sheet.

Assuming you had such an array, every 1 m^2 of mirror should provide roughly as much power as 1 m^2 of panels on the ground.

Re:Apply for Sunshine by zamadatix on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @04:02PM (#41383623)
According to the application page it is indeed a 5 km beam.
Re:Apply for Sunshine by jdsnape on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @03:07PM (#41383065)
If you can't be sure or know how to verify that ChatGPT's maths is correct, then surely the output is entirely meaningless?
Re:Apply for Sunshine by p1mrx on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @03:27PM (#41383257)
It's fairly simple math; I was just being lazy.

Verification: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=5km+%2F+500km+*+1+AU = "1.1 x mean diameter of the sun"

Re:Apply for Sunshine by abotsis on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @05:01PM (#41384329)
What about other applications? For example lighting for evening events (concerts, sporting events, festivals), burning man.
Re:Apply for Sunshine by aagha on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @06:34PM (#41385183)
100% hoax
Re:Apply for Sunshine by zamadatix on Wednesday August 28, 2024 @11:35PM (#41387018)
The other bits about doing something useful with it are either incredibly foolish or a straight hoax (and I'll eat a shoe on camera if that turns out to be wrong) but the premise of having a spot of light appear for ~4 minutes after dark is plenty doable (in fact, been done before) and depends solely on how much funding they secure before people realize the first half.