Prof. Sam Lawlersundogplanets@mastodon.social
Oct 15, 2026, 11:33 PMI fucking hate this company. This is so fucking stupid for so many reasons.
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/mount-whitney-reflect-orbital-22478878.php
Replies
- Prof. Sam Lawlersundogplanets@mastodon.socialOct 15, 2026, 11:38 PM
Anybody have dark sky advocate connections around the Lone Pine, CA area? Can the town slap them with some nuisance lighting fines? That would be funny.
Oct 15, 2026, 11:37 PM@sundogplanets
Isn't this test just proving that we *don't* need their satellites? If you can accomplish the same thing with some ground-based spotlights, even on a mountain, then what's the point?
gaian the invinciblegaiantheinvincible@mastodon.socialOct 16, 2026, 12:11 AMfor fuck's sake, don't encouraged these deranged pieces of garbage!
did you look at the photos that accompanied the story?
it looked like night, with a couple of bright lights shining. it did not come close to lighting up the area the way they claimed.
Julesceltjulescelt01@universeodon.comOct 16, 2026, 12:11 AM@papa @sundogplanets My husband and I were talking about this very thing recently...
What a colossal waste of resources and energy to put that thing in orbit when for a fraction of it all can be ground based. It's not like the technologly hasn't been around for decades.
Oct 15, 2026, 11:37 PM@sundogplanets How many reflect orbital staff does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
LMAO
Oct 16, 2026, 3:40 AM@tubbdoose @sundogplanets Don't you mean how many does it take to screw a planet?
Oct 17, 2026, 2:58 AM@sundogplanets
The American flag is a giveaway. They want military/government $$$
Oct 15, 2026, 11:37 PM@sundogplanets what were they even testing?! "How annoying their mirror would be"?!
Elizabeth Sudduthhydropsyche@ecoevo.socialOct 15, 2026, 11:37 PM@sundogplanets So much nonsense. "We put up spotlights on a mountain to show you how our technology that is nothing like spotlights on a mountain will work". I loved the S&R folks just being completely disinterested in the technology that's supposedly for their benefit.
- Oct 17, 2026, 2:57 AM
@sundogplanets
I'm pretty sure there was some sponsorship. And it doesn't take much to get SAR types out to play with the toys 
mathieuimathieui@piaille.frOct 15, 2026, 11:39 PM@sundogplanets can we put always-on huge-ass LEDs around the CEO's house, and crowdfund the electricity bill?
Michael Buschmichael_w_busch@mastodon.onlineOct 15, 2026, 11:57 PMTalk to the folks at OVRO? Although the radio telescopes are most of the way from Lone Pine to Bishop.
Ari "Two Elements" Jacksonarisummerland@beige.partyOct 15, 2026, 11:40 PMI am right there with you.
David Ppewnack@aus.socialOct 15, 2026, 11:40 PMSo do I
Lucas C. Wheelerlcwheeler@ecoevo.socialOct 15, 2026, 11:44 PM@sundogplanets I'm so goddamn tired of the stupidity.
WorldTravelerAll7WorldTravelerAll7@mastodon.worldOct 15, 2026, 11:55 PMYes! 𝗬𝗲𝘀! A 1000 times 𝙔𝙚𝙨!!!!🤬
FossThoughtFossThought@mastodon.socialOct 16, 2026, 12:01 AM@sundogplanets "On top of commercial uses, the company is also pitching an application of the technology that could save lives — helping search-and-rescue teams find people in the dark."
FFS we already have these things called flashlights.
Felichsfelichsdakatze@mastodon.socialOct 16, 2026, 12:24 AMThermal cameras and dogs out perform human eyes by a very large margin.
The Turtlethe_turtle@polyglot.cityOct 16, 2026, 12:07 AM@sundogplanets it's very sad that research into batteries, transmission lines, and artificial lighting is a complete failure after over 150 years and the rest of us just haven't known this.
- Julesceltjulescelt01@universeodon.comOct 16, 2026, 12:16 AM
@sundogplanets I hate this timeline so much...
Does anyone not see the stupidity of a demonstration that shows we already have the ability to light up areas of size, thereby facilitating SAR teams, with ground based light systems and at a fraction of the resources and energy?
Maria Lövforsmarialovfors@mastodon.nuOct 16, 2026, 12:19 AM@sundogplanets The potential uses seem so pointless, are there like military uses that they don’t want to mention?
Bobbob@bots.mpaq.orgOct 16, 2026, 1:09 AM@sundogplanets
So fucking fucked up behond belife. I can only imagen the ways this is going to distroy things.
Oct 16, 2026, 1:21 AM@sundogplanets even on the medical perspective it's bad.
when you see that light pollution is already bad, they want to sell a way to make it worse.
CM Thiedecmthiede@vivaldi.netOct 16, 2026, 1:25 AM@sundogplanets Cue the sun, I can't anymore with this crap.
BoloMKXXVIIIBoloMKXXVIII@mastodon.socialOct 16, 2026, 2:01 AM@sundogplanets
For a company that deals with sunlight, they aren't very bright.
Leon the Lonerleontheloner@defcon.socialOct 16, 2026, 4:37 AM@sundogplanets If no one else will say it I will, this is so stupid they deserve to removed from society entirely, whatever the means so long as it's not as stupid as this shit.
Just off the dome, environmental concerns ABOUND. Then we also get into the fact that the only reason you would need to throw up satellites for this is because you are trying to cover an extremely large area, cause if you just needed a large light cover over an area of even miles it's way less intensive of a process to get a shit ton of really powerful LED flashlights. Those things are bright as hell.
Then getting satellites and rockets up there. I'd bet these are just more garbage threatening all the actually really useful shit up there in 20 years.
Then we have the surprise environmental impact, what happens when we redirect sunlight to an area all through the night, and how much more heat are we pumping into this already way too hot frozen fireball?
modrobertmodrobert@infosec.exchangeOct 16, 2026, 5:10 AM@sundogplanets Perhaps their satellites can be hacked so we can send them into the Sun where they belong.
Skjeggtrollskjeggtroll@mastodon.onlineOct 16, 2026, 5:48 AMAh yes. Because search and rescue operations are famously almost always performed over flat, open ground when the skies are clear. Nobody ever needs rescuing when the weather is bad or the terrain is difficult, after all.
steve mookie kongmookie@isdream.ingOct 16, 2026, 6:52 AM@sundogplanets @MisterArix How about the CEO of that stupid company be the first to test this long term by having the lights pointed at their house for a year. Come back and let us know how things are going afterwards.
MisterArix MisterArix@akkoma.thesandbox.netOct 16, 2026, 7:59 AM@mookie @sundogplanets Just like the Flock CEO - they will use their own products whether they want to or not.
Oct 16, 2026, 7:12 AM@sundogplanets Apart from all the immediate stupidity, I can't shake the thought that if they can reflect enough light to cover a large area, then there's little stopping them from pointing all the mirrors to a single spot and effectively creating the world's largest magnifying glass. The military would LOVE having a space death ray.
- Prof. Sam Lawlersundogplanets@mastodon.socialOct 16, 2026, 1:48 PM
@antsu The Nazis actually had plans for this! Dark sky expert and space historian @JohnBarentine wrote a little about that here: https://www.darkskyconsulting.com/blog/the-dangers-of-sunlight-as-a-service
Le Notairelenotaire@mastodon.socialOct 16, 2026, 7:14 AM@sundogplanets please tell me its CEO's name is not Gustav Graves
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Another_Day
kawunnggkawunngg@mastoart.socialOct 16, 2026, 10:08 AM@sundogplanets
I firmly believe they only came up with the people rescue thing because they needed something positive after so much backlash.- Oct 17, 2026, 2:55 AM
@sundogplanets
Aside from all the other stupidity, I'm stuck with how foolish this "test" was "we set up a bunch of lights, and people did stuff in the dark using the lights" wow, using lights a night! This totally shows satellite mirrors work and are a good idea.
Also thermal imagers work much better that people's eyes to find lost people. 
Oct 17, 2026, 5:00 AM@sundogplanets Their dedication to the grift, though.
