There's actually a rational reason to not worry about LEO space mirrors becoming potential space junk. They just have an extremely high surface area to weight ratio, meaning they're going to experience relatively high drag. If something like this is abandoned in low earth orbit, it would probably deorbit relatively quickly, like in a matter of months.
I'm not suggesting that this mirror is a good idea, it's unclear what the use case even is. But I am saying that it's not any more dangerous than any of the dozens of smallsats launched by University robotics programs. People don't tend to have any problem with that kind of satellite, though they're probably more likely to be abandoned relatively quickly and they would stay in orbit longer than a satellite that has what is essentially an enormous sail.
Well, it wasn't my metaphor, I'm not really defending it.
That said, you do seem to have missed the point of a metaphor. Nobody is arguing that mosquitos in a house are more of a problem than satellites... Comparing the two directly was not anyone's intention.
If you assume anyone who says something you disagree with or don't understand is stupid, you give up any chance of expanding your perspective. It's not an intelligent strategy, certainly when compared to a perfectly civil discussion.
Oh, I see. I actually hadn't heard that term before. I googled "matrix headlights" and what I got was a brand selling aftermarket bright headlights. So I assumed that's what we were talking about.
That's a legit complaint, this doesn't help cyclists or pedestrians. Though selectively dimming lights is definitely cool as fuck and a good idea.
I think with further development this could in fact be a good solution.
Another strategy could be, rather than trying to identify various non-road objects, and avoid blinding those, to instead try to positively identify the road, and only illuminate that. If it's actively trying to not shine on anything it isn't certain is road, that could work. It's at least an avenue worth exploring.
Also, if you're already putting lidar in vehicles for collision avoidance, the headlights are one more area where that capability could be utilized.
All I see here are a bunch of cowards, just look at all the top posts here, what do they have in common? Bedbugs, ticks, mosquitos... all parasites that target humans. That's too easy, anyone can get behind that.
But I'm actually willing to step out on a limb and say something. Manatees. What have manatees done for me lately? Laying about... Aggressively loitering in our estuaries! Get a job you lazy sea cows. You think kelp grows on trees? They're a drain on the global economy and a blubberous aquatic menace! Let's get rid of them!
But a chain reaction in low earth orbit is generally short lived, atmospheric drag clears that up. A chain reaction in high earth orbit is exponentially less likely to happen. It's the medium orbits to worry about, luckily they're less popular for now, but as LEO fills up, they'll likely start to be used more.
Here's a solution for you. Use your old MacBook, the one with 2GB of RAM. Use your old copy of Office 2008, the one that requires no subscription and offers no AI assistant. Stop paying for Spotify, find your old mp3 collection, convert all those CDs you never play anymore. You want television? Don't pay subscriptions for that either, buy an HD antenna, get your local stations over the air. If it doesn't have everything you want, suck it up or pirate it, your call.
My point is, you can choose a different path, but it takes a choice.
You know, dumb flip phones are coming back, people are realizing they don't need all the crap they're paying for, it doesn't all make life better. It takes conviction to trade in your smart phone for a dumb one, but people are doing it.
Yeah that's true, calculating the actual collision risk is a whole different thing.
It was really just a joke, cause you know space is bigger and more empty than most people realize. Because what I said was "technically" true, if not super meaningful in any way.
That said, orbit isn't too crowded yet, more is definitely going up, a lot more. Truth be told, 50 years from now, the number of satellites orbiting earth could easily be in the hundreds of thousands.
Well let's run with that. If you put a single mosquito in my house, I would have a higher ratio of mosquito to air than low earth orbit currently has in its ratio of satellites to empty space. (Seriously)
Well I'm also curious about how to mount a camera, sounds tricky. And if you do use some kind of swivel mount for a stable camera, well that breaks the whole "invisible" thing. Although alternatively, you could just mount it spinning, take 360 degree video.
But to be clear this was human designed with some AI assistance. I think it's a bit insulting to call this "AI designed", that took skilled engineers.
Like The Gap?