[HN Gopher] An Italian town that built its own sun (2021)
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An Italian town that built its own sun (2021)
Author : Amorymeltzer
Score : 73 points
Date : 2024-12-08 20:21 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.vice.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.vice.com)
| pidge wrote:
| Soon available as a service https://www.reflectorbital.com/
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| That seems outrageous. Do they make any claims about how many
| watts or lumens they can deliver, and to what area?
| margalabargala wrote:
| "As many as VC money is prepared to pay for" is the answer
| here.
| TrainedMonkey wrote:
| Astronomers: Starlink constellation solar panels are ruining
| the astro photography. Reflect Orbital: That sounds like a
| startup idea! /s
|
| Russians also seemed to think that math could work out, but
| fumbled on funding and engineering -
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Znamya_(satellite)
| bee_rider wrote:
| I'm pretty sure it is the eternal fate of Russian physicists
| to have worked out the math, but to not have the funding or
| engineering to implement a thing, right? So, I guess that
| fact, at least, doesn't tell us much of anything.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| I refuse to believe this project isn't some sort of elaborate
| troll.
| kjs3 wrote:
| Some people have convinced themselves they can disrupt
| anything.
| notahacker wrote:
| I'm sort of torn between that reaction and "hey, this seems
| similar logistics-wise to that space solar project I'm
| kicking off next week"...
| perdomon wrote:
| Scrolljacking makes it impossible to get info from a website at
| a glance.
| labster wrote:
| Another one in Rjukan, Norway:
| https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170314-the-town-that-bu...
| (2017)
| dang wrote:
| Discussed here:
|
| _A Norwegian town built a giant mirror to deflect the sun
| (2017)_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19910305 - May
| 2019 (97 comments)
|
| Sort of related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34056620
|
| Others?
| eh_why_not wrote:
| _> The mirror was designed by Bozani with the help of engineer
| Gianni Ferrari, and cost about EUR100,000..._
|
| First reaction: why would a mirror cost this much?
|
| _> Eight metres wide and five tall, it reflects the sunlight for
| six hours a day, following the sun's path in the sky thanks to a
| software programme that makes it rotate._
|
| Also saw elsewhere that the reflectors are made of steel. So a
| giant, software-controlled, motorized structure, reflecting just
| the right amount of sunlight to a precise location, sitting out
| there in the elements...
|
| Totally worth it, and what a cool project!
|
| Relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliostat ("Aziz,
| Light!")
| moffkalast wrote:
| "It's a Ferrari!"
|
| "It's a steel box!"
| yohannparis wrote:
| This reference was such a classic for years after the release
| of the Fifth Element!
| notahacker wrote:
| my thought was the opposite: "only EUR 100k for a giant sun
| tracking device mounted above a village? Maybe Montgomery
| Burns' idea of doing the same thing in reverse wasn't so
| ludicrous after all..."
| nine_k wrote:
| The hardware may cost very modestly. But consider the salary of
| the people who designed it, built it, transported it, and
| installed it. These must be several pros, working on that full-
| time, at a salary near the competitive level (even if they
| agree to take a hit out of being charitable). Much of that
| salary would go to the taxes.
| nikolay wrote:
| A clickbait title - they reflected the existing sun.
| throw646577 wrote:
| (Can't tell if joking or serious)
|
| The subset of people for whom such a title would be "clickbait"
| is so small and well-informed that they ought not to be falling
| for clickbait.
|
| Everyone else understands that since it is impossible to build
| a sun, it must be a clever metaphor or some other intriguing
| novelty.
| alnwlsn wrote:
| panel = 40 m^2 sunlight = 1370 W/m^2
|
| So some amount less than 50 kW. Maybe about 2x photonicinduction
| garden light bulbs, or a few dozen normal streetlights. Seems
| like about the right amount to light up a very small town.
|
| But it makes me wonder why anyone would choose to settle in an
| area which is in shadow 1/4 of the time. Why found a city there?
| dtgriscom wrote:
| https://www.google.com/maps/place/28841+Viganella,+Province+...
| thund wrote:
| Mirror: https://maps.app.goo.gl/soe6WX87ihvu4E1W9
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