rxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Not The Onion@lemmy.worldEnglish · 21 days agoReflect Orbital sells sunlight at night, but don't trust that fancy videomashable.comexternal-linkmessage-square27fedilinkarrow-up170arrow-down14file-textcross-posted to: technology@lemmy.world
arrow-up166arrow-down1external-linkReflect Orbital sells sunlight at night, but don't trust that fancy videomashable.comrxin@lemmy.blahaj.zone to Not The Onion@lemmy.worldEnglish · 21 days agomessage-square27fedilinkfile-textcross-posted to: technology@lemmy.world
minus-squaretal@lemmy.todaylinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up10·edit-221 days ago“I want a spot, but I want all of my sunlight focused onto a spot about a centimeter across. I’ll give you the coordinates.”
minus-squaredeegeese@sopuli.xyzlinkfedilinkEnglisharrow-up2arrow-down1·21 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-up2arrow-down1·21 days agoOkay but can we make that 1 km hot enough to burn everything inside of it? For science of course.
“I want a spot, but I want all of my sunlight focused onto a spot about a centimeter across. I’ll give you the coordinates.”
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.