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This company wants to sell you sunlight at night from space (www.vice.com)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Reflect Orbital, a California startup, has opened applications for anyone who wants to use a satellite with a mirror on it to reflect sunlight to a specific location on Earth after dark. You might be wondering: What?

A few years ago, VICE spoke with Reflect Orbital’s founder and CEO, Ben Nowack, about his plans to generate solar power at night.

“I had an interesting way to solve the real issue with solar power. It’s this unstoppable force,” Nowack said in the interview. “Everybody’s installing so many solar panels everywhere. It’s really a great candidate to power humanity. But sunlight turns off. It’s called nighttime. If you solve that fundamental problem, you fix solar everywhere.”

The company’s orbital mirror is set to launch in 2025, and you can “apply for sunlight” for the next few months. There’s “limited availability,” and already supposedly over 30,000 applications. It really just sounds like a one-time test, though: you only get four minutes for a diameter of 5km. No price is listed.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Can I use it to annoy my neighbor?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

With a 5km radius, yes, yes you can. All your neighbours. And their neighbours, and most of town.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Ok, so the neighboring town where the rival gang/sports team/even pettier mayor lives.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Oh, don't get me started on how much I hate rival town's sportsball team!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You could probably find easier ways of doing that, like weeing through their letterbox.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Or, if you have a shy bladder, pee into an old washing-up liquid bottle, then use that to squirt through the letterbox. It's what my landlord did to his neighbours he didn't like. He was what a certain demographic would describe as an absolute legend.