The Russian Plan To Use Space Mirrors To Turn Night Into Day (vice.com)

merbs writes: Throughout the early 90s, a team of Russian astronomers and engineers were hellbent on literally turning night into day. By shining a giant mirror onto the earth from space, they figured they could bring sunlight to the depths of night, extending the workday, cutting back on lighting costs and allowing laborers to toil longer. If this sounds a bit like the plot of a Bond film, well, it's that too. The difference is that for a second there, the scientists, led by Vladimir Sergeevich Syromyatnikov, one of the most important astronautical engineers in history, actually pulled it off.

Comments

Insanity.

[Anonymous Coward]

Has there been any thought given as to what this might do to the flora and fauna? Screwing up diurnal rhythms, mating seasons, migrations, etc. I mean seriously, this screams terrible idea.

Re:Insanity.

[captjc]

Yeah, but just think of it, a 168 hour work week. People will no longer need to go home at night and can work 24/7! Think of all the profits!

Plus the syndicates will finally be free of that menace, Batman. There is no Batman if there is no night time.

Re:Insanity.

[wired_parrot]

From the article, they were planning on lighting up urban areas only. The mirrors wouldn't be large enough to light up more than a city, and the light would only have been the equivalent of a bright moonlight. And cities already have electric illumination at night. So this would only be substituting current electric night time lighting in city centers with the reflected light, which would have the advantage of cutting energy costs. The idea was being pitched as an energy saving measure for city centers. It's not so terrible if limited to urban centers.

Re:Insanity.

[demonlapin]

Again, I don't know why you guys do this shit for megacorps. Some startup where you might become a billionaire? Hey, I can see killing yourself for a couple of those in your early 20s in hopes you hit the jackpot. But Microsoft? Hell, Google? They're already huge. They've already made their billionaires, and you weren't one of them. Get a job at a company that will pay you for working tolerable hours at a fair rate.

This also goes a long way to explaining the difference in pay between flyover country and the coasts. "Oh, yeah, I pay more for the apartment, but I have a lot more disposable income"... and no time in which to spend it. I get nine weeks of paid vacation a year. You can have that when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

Re:Insanity.

[Gates82]

It would actually be a reduction of 812:1; given that the ratio between the area of two circles is ratio bewteen their diameters squared.

--
MGB

Re:Insanity.

[Gavagai80]

Keep in mind that you can't stop maintaining the street lights and you'll have to use them a lot of nights, because space mirrors don't work when it's cloudy or foggy.

Must have been a slow day at Motherboard

[Crashmarik]

Does take a certain something to try and recast a 20 year old failure as a great success

Obligatory Joke

[scunc]

In Soviet Russia, night lights you!

Re:Already been done...sort of

[jklovanc]

The Norway installation is there not to extend daylight but to direct sunlight to the town square so that people can experience direct sunlight. They used to get no direct sunlight for six months of the year. It would be unsettling to be in the shade six months of the year.