Jen Sorensen | Mastodon

Transcript

Selling The Sun

Despite overwhelming objections from scientists, the Trump FCC has approved a space mirror to create “Sunlight on demand.”

Person on Earth in spot being lit by space mirror: What the.?

Among other things, the company promises “unforgettable nighttime experiences for events and public spaces.”

Owl: Not another @&!# midnight corporate retreat!

Besides messing up circadian rhythms, animal navigation, and entire ecosystems, what could go wrong?

Tech bro to astronomer with seared retinas: careful with that telescope! Especially once we have 50,000 of these in orbit.

Coming soon: Blocking the sun unless you pay for it

Farmer in the dark: Hey, what gives?

Tech bro: You haven’t paid your monthly Sun-scription fee!

©2026 Jen Sorensen – jensorensen.com

    • Thorry@feddit.org
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      7 days ago

      Weren’t they fully debunked? Like they tried it out with some reflectors on a hot air balloon, that wasn’t even very high up. The reflectors weren’t very large and pretty shitty. But they showed the number went up when they reflected some light down to a sensor on the ground.

      It’s an absolute joke, you’d need so many of these things to get even a little bit of coverage. And the performance is terrible. Like it would be worse than a half full moon. It’s light but not useful light. And it only lasts a few minutes at max (usually shorter), so what’s the point?

      This is so fucking dumb, but it fits in the world we live in today.

    • bequirtle@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      no there isn’t. there’s a company that “plans to” offer it. the technology probably is not real

    • fartographer@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      They’ll sell it as an improvement to agriculture, a safety feature, or even extended solar energy. They’ll use it as a giant magnifying glass to remotely incinerate anyone they dislike without using additional fuel.

      And then they’ll still argue that solar energy is less efficient than “coal and oil make big boom.”