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We’re about to turn night into day. Is that a good idea?
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Powderhorn beehaw.org Powderhorn@beehaw.org
Joined: 2023-06-06
Quote

In the beginning, the Bible tells us,

God divided the light from the darkness.

And God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.

And so it has been ever since — until now.

Here in the 21st century, we humans are on the cusp of turning night into day — and bidding good night to the stars that have guided us home for thousands of years.

Two little-noted applications under review by the Federal Communications Commission would, if fully implemented, fundamentally remake the night sky. But the FCC, the satellite regulator, appears to have fast-tracked approval without much of a pause to weigh the benefits of these proposals against the harms they could cause to life on the planet.

A start-up called Reflect Orbital proposes to use large, mirrored satellites to redirect sunlight to Earth at night, with plans to bathe solar farms, industrial sites and even entire cities in light that could, if desired, reach the intensity of daylight. At the same time, Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to launch as many as a million satellites to serve as orbiting data centers — 70 times the number of satellites now in orbit. We could have a million points of light streaking across our skies at night.

9   Original
Steve communick.news Steve@communick.news
Joined: 2023-08-05
#2 · Quote Reply

This seems ridiculous.
So much so that I'd be both impressed and depressed at the same time, if it actually sees the light of day.

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MNByChoice midwest.social MNByChoice@midwest.social
Joined: 2023-08-12
#3 · Quote Reply

Lighting the night will be bad for plants and animals.

million satellites to serve as orbiting data centers

There are ~8 billion people on Earth. Elon wants to have something like 1 data center per 8,000 people. Not to mention all of the other data centers.

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murmelade lemmy.ml murmelade@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2023-03-04
#4 · (edited) Quote Reply

Enabling solar farms to be productive during night seems like a good idea, not so convinced about the others.
Why would an entire city want permanent daylight?

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Steve communick.news Steve@communick.news
Joined: 2023-08-05
#5 · Quote Reply

Enabling solar farms to be productive during night seems like a good idea, not so convinced about the others. Why would an entire city want permanent daylight?

I imagine the cost of ground storage is much much cheaper than this would be.

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Marshezezz lemmy.blahaj.zone Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-08-09
#6 · Quote Reply

[deleted]
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LurkingLuddite piefed.social LurkingLuddite@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-04
#7 · Quote Reply

[deleted]

inching? Nah. Global warming is already here. We've fucked Earth to death already. I kinda wish there was a massive meteor heading toward us to make it a bit more immediate of a demise...

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Marshezezz lemmy.blahaj.zone Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-08-09
#8 · Quote Reply

inching? Nah. Global warming is already here. We've fucked Earth to death already. I kinda wish there was a massive meteor heading toward us to make it a bit more immediate of a demise...
[deleted]
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LurkingLuddite piefed.social LurkingLuddite@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-04
#9 · Quote Reply

[deleted]

Global warming is about as good of a similarity as you're going to get out of real life. Fossil fuels are literally pumping up goop the Earth has already sequestered, burning it for energy while harming the planet, just like Mako reactors.

If you cannot see the ample similarities, you're just... not even thinking.

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