4 ms·

I don't have the technical background to know if this is a pie-in-the-sky kind of thing, but it seems like an amazing idea. It reminds me of the "Icarus array"

I don't have the technical background to know if this is a pie-in-the-sky kind of thing, but it seems like an amazing idea. It reminds me of the "Icarus array" from the book "Echopraxia" by Peter Watts. Of course, this wouldn't harvest energy but just absorb it.

nonbel 9y ago
So, now the most egregiously greedy/evil plans from the Simpsons are being considered? >'The Sun Blocker was a device developed by Charles Montgomery Burns. As the name suggests, it was created to literally blot out the sun outside, in order to ensure Mr. Burns' electricity was sold in a monopoly, covering Springfield in perpetual darkness otherwise. The machine was extremely infamous alongside the theft of Springfield Elementary School's oil well for riling the Springfieldans' hatred of Mr. Burns, enough to want to murder him, especially Smithers, who had earlier been fired by Mr. Burns when the former protested against the plot and cited it was too heinous of a plan for even him to nominally support. [...] According to Mr. Burns, the Sun Blocker was conceived due to Mankind overall having an innate desire to destroy the sun, and that, due to the infeasibility of actually doing such an act, he settled for "the next best option."' http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Sun_Blocker http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Sun_Blocker
sbierwagen 9y ago
February 2001, "Ice and Mirrors", by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven. Swarm of small mirrors used to cool a planet. Mentioned in this Nature article complaining about the cost: https://www.nature.com/news/2006/061030/full/news061030-6.html https://www.nature.com/news/2006/061030/full/news061030-6.ht... Predates Echopraxia by 13 years.
- antisthenes 9y ago
  This is the space version of fusion, "just 20 years away" or "within our grasp" for the last 60 years. In fact, it may be even less feasible. Not to sound too much like a skeptic, but my bet is on terrestrial methods of mitigation, solar/wind/tidal, reforestation and, hopefully one day, fusion. Most people underestimate by several orders of magnitude how hard it is to launch something into space correctly.

nonbel 9y ago

So, now the most egregiously greedy/evil plans from the Simpsons are being considered? >'The Sun Blocker was a device developed by Charles Montgomery Burns. As the name suggests, it was created to literally blot out the sun outside, in order to ensure Mr. Burns' electricity was sold in a monopoly, covering Springfield in perpetual darkness otherwise. The machine was extremely infamous alongside the theft of Springfield Elementary School's oil well for riling the Springfieldans' hatred of Mr. Burns, enough to want to murder him, especially Smithers, who had earlier been fired by Mr. Burns when the former protested against the plot and cited it was too heinous of a plan for even him to nominally support. [...] According to Mr. Burns, the Sun Blocker was conceived due to Mankind overall having an innate desire to destroy the sun, and that, due to the infeasibility of actually doing such an act, he settled for "the next best option."' http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Sun_Blocker http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Sun_Blocker

sbierwagen 9y ago

February 2001, "Ice and Mirrors", by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven. Swarm of small mirrors used to cool a planet. Mentioned in this Nature article complaining about the cost: https://www.nature.com/news/2006/061030/full/news061030-6.html https://www.nature.com/news/2006/061030/full/news061030-6.ht... Predates Echopraxia by 13 years.

antisthenes 9y ago
This is the space version of fusion, "just 20 years away" or "within our grasp" for the last 60 years. In fact, it may be even less feasible. Not to sound too much like a skeptic, but my bet is on terrestrial methods of mitigation, solar/wind/tidal, reforestation and, hopefully one day, fusion. Most people underestimate by several orders of magnitude how hard it is to launch something into space correctly.