California Startup Wants To Launch 4,000 Glasses To Orbit. Scientists are shocked
A California startup’s plan to launch thousands of telescopes into orbit has caused an uproar among astronomers and wildlife experts. This company, show Orbital, aims to increase the output of energy from solar farms by redirecting the sun to them at night.
This could be the first step towards the company’s goal of using a constellation of 4,000 such satellites by 2030.
“The costs This brings out not only in astronomy, but in all civilizations – and environmental impacts – are the assistant of Urgl,” in the view of the assistant, to lead the assistant of IILUU the protection of the dark and silent sky, told GIZMODO.
Show Orbital did not respond to Gizmoto’s request for comment at the time of publication. A company spokesperson told space.com that it intends to conduct an environmental impact assessment before building the constellation.
Have you demonstrated the orbital system in action?
He points out that Orbital’s website promises that its constellation will deliver “continuous, reliable access to energy, day in and day out, to increase energy efficiency.” That promise won funding from big wig investors and a small $1.25 million research contract from the US Air Force.
On paper, the idea is very simple using a hand mirror to hit a spot of sunlight on the wall. But in practice, this method may not work as it shows that orbital prospects, according to astronomers Michael Ji brown of Michael Ji Brown of Monash University and Matheke Kenworthy of Leiden University.
In a recent discussion thread, they explain that due to the sun’s size and distance, the reflected beam will stretch and be 15,000 times dimmer than the midday sun if it is brighter than the full moon.
“If one meter is 54 [177-foot] A Satellite is 15,000 times fainter than the daytime Sun, you would need 3,000 of them to achieve 20% of the daytime Sun. That has many satellites to illuminate one region, “Brown and Kenlorthy Write. Because the satellites degrade the earth very quickly, it will take more than 4,000 to provide continuous light.
And that’s if all goes according to plan, says EGGL. For example, let’s say that a piece of space debris or a meteorite hits one of these mirrors and causes it to fall. “When this thing collapses, it basically has a giant lighthouse with parts of the world lighting up uncontrollably,” he explained.
Effects of light pollution
Darkness is a dwindling resource on which astronomers depend. Light pollution poses a growing threat to their research, with global levels rising by about 10% per year since the introduction of LED lights.
“If you have clear glasses even in the approximate direction of the telescope, the brightness of the sky will increase significantly,” explains EGLEGL. “It will be like having a full moon all night, and that will be very detrimental to the birth of the stars.” This will prevent telescopes from imaging the fainter astronomical objects they need to look for.
Light pollution also threatens many species whose behavior has evolved to match the natural diurnal cycles. “By effectively extending the daylight hours and blurring the boundaries between day and night, light pollution disrupts background rhythms, physiology, and behavioral patterns of many species,” says social behavioral patterns in invertebrate buglife, told VapTerbrate Bullife,
He points out that the FCC’s Orbital FCC license plan is still awaiting approval, and EGGL administrators hope to take on the problems of the scientific community. “But given the proponents, I don’t see a clear way this isn’t going to be very disruptive with all kinds of things,” Eggl said.
