Russia is to launch radical reflective satellite, set to be the brightest 'star'

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Called the 'Mayak' or 'Beacon', the satellite is set to outshine everything in the sky, apart from the sun, thanks to a giant reflective sheet of material.

The controversial satellite is due to be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday 14 July.

Its the work of engineers from the University of Mechanical Engineering in Moscow.

The launch of Mayak is expected to be taken up in a Soyuz 2 rocket, with help from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.

The team is planning to place the spacecraft in a sun-synchronous orbit 370 miles (600km) above the ground.

This means it will always be in the path of sunlight, so will always be shining at different locations on Earth as it rotates.

The small spacecraft will launch a giant pyramid-shaped solar reflector in orbit. The reflector is 170 square feet (16 square metres) in size and made of a thin polymer film 20 times thinner than human hair.

The idea was that the mirrors could extend daylight hours for farmers, for example, reports Ars Technica.


'We are sending a spacecraft into orbit that will be the brightest star in the sky, visible from any point on our planet,' project leader Alexander Shaenko, head of the modern cosmonautics course at Moscow State University of Mechanical Engineering.

http://cosmomayak.ru/

 

[Ja.KooLit]

Oh. Interesting..

 

[therealmeep]

I can imagine such a conversation "Comrade, we have 4 hours of daylight in Arctic circle, not enough for farming" "Then lets make a gigantic mirror so the night is also day!" That or the episode of Futurama with the mirror to reflect the sun and reduce global warming.

 

[blobster21]

a 170ft² / 16m² reflector floating @ 370miles / 600km above ground, what size would be the resulting light beam if the goal is to provide more light for farmers ? (i apologize for my poor choice of words)

 

[MrGenius]

So it'll be like a permanent iridium flare. Just what we need. A new and inextinguishable source of light pollution in the sky. Like land-based light pollution isn't bad enough already. Now we'll have one more thing to spoil astronomical observations and/or night sky photography. Great!

 

[infrared]

Do the Russians get all their ideas from Bond films? I'm getting flashbacks from Die another day... What's the bet they can adjust the focus of this thing?!

 

[Mr.Scott]

Do the Russians get all their ideas from Bond films? I'm getting flashbacks from Die another day... What's the bet they can adjust the focus of this thing?!

Diamonds are Forever.

 

[cdawall]

America will shoot it down don't you worry. Team America world police

 

[the54thvoid]

America will shoot it down don't you worry. Team America world police

Trump wants to work more closely with them (not hating, it's what he said at the G20).

If Russia do one, he'll fight back with 10.

 

[RejZoR]

Ok, but why? It has no purpose other than like someone already said, to polute the sky with extra unnecessary light. Dumb.

 

[cornemuse]

America will shoot it down don't you worry. Team America world police

Or they could do like Montgomery Burns did with his giant shade blocking sunlight from Springfield (Simpsons)

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

here is the mission goal

Among the scientific goals of the launch - a test in real flight aerodynamic braking device, which can later be used for information space debris orbit. Tracking the flight of the satellite in the uppermost layers of the atmosphere, it will be possible to obtain new information about the density of air at high altitude. In addition, the "Lighthouse" pyramid will be used as a reference object to check the calculations apparent magnitude of space objects.

^^^^^^^^^^^

all of that was in the link in post #1..

The most important bit for me is the fact that it celebrates the launch of Sputnik 1 , 60 years ago.

 

[rtwjunkie]

So it'll be like a permanent iridium flare. Just what we need. A new and inextinguishable source of light pollution in the sky. Like land-based light pollution isn't bad enough already. Now we'll have one more thing to spoil astronomical observations and/or night sky photography. Great!

Light pollution ruining astronomical observations was the first thing that came to mind for me. You beat me to the punch, however.

 

[Finners]

Anyone know of a website that is tracking this? Would like to see it fly over.

What I have found out is it's only due to be up there a couple of months so light pollution should only be temporary

 

[xorbe]

In other news, various countries have scheduled several surface-to-space laser tests, where the beam goes, nobody knows!

 

[dorsetknob]

Anyone know of a website that is tracking this? Would like to see it fly over.

Good place to look
http://www.n2yo.com/

 

[de.das.dude]

at first i was like "cool" then i remembered i wont be able to take astro pictures so "boo"

but then its only sun synchronous, so it would be at the edge of day and night all the time, so its not a big deal.

Would be like venus.

 

[VulkanBros]

The reflector is 170 square feet (16 square metres) in size and made of a thin polymer film 20 times thinner than human hair.

Well..."20 times thinner than human hair" ..... debris from space will make this look like a Swiss cheese in no time

 

[Vayra86]

Trump wants to work more closely with them (not hating, it's what he said at the G20).

If Russia do one, he'll fight back with 10.

Yeah but like so many of Trump's ideas, he is the only one with them.

Putin practically already gave him the finger a couple times now, he's just too stupid to see it.

BTW how do we know this satellite isn't actually the first stage of GoldenEye?

 

[dorsetknob]

Crap russian only app to view this is better
http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=42830#results

 

[AsRock]

'We are sending a spacecraft into orbit that will be the brightest star in the sky, visible from any point on our planet,' project leader Alexander Shaenko, head of the modern cosmonautics course at Moscow State University of Mechanical Engineering.

They know what a star actually is ?, and launching a spacecraft is in to space makes it no star and just adds some thing bright in the sky.

Well done for putting more pointless junk in our orbit.

I can trust a star to be a guide, cannot trust this it's fake.

Trump wants to work more closely with them (not hating, it's what he said at the G20).

If Russia do one, he'll fight back with 10.

Trump is un doing a lot of things it don't mean it's good \ bad but internet neutrality is under threat again since the head of FCC has been replaced.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Anyone seen it yet?

The satellite launched from Baikonur spaceport on July 14 aboard a Soyuz 2.1a rocket, and unfolded its sun reflector upon arrival to orbit. According to the Mayak team, the satellite reached orbit at 12:10 p.m., following the 9:36 a.m. launch.

'After the launch and orbiting Mayak unfolded sun reflector,' the firm's site claims.


TRACKER
http://cosmomayak.com/default

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

the team behind the Russian ‘artificial star’ satellite has revealed its solar reflector failed to unfold in orbit.

In a post for Geektimes, Mayak engineer Alexander Shayenko cites a combination of errors that may have led to the satellite’s failure, including ‘incorrect calculations, a sluggishly working application, and a bad PR.’

 

[Finners]

Thanks for the heads up, was sort of planning to stay up Saturday night and have a look at this but can sleep now

 

[Nuckles56]

Or if I put my conspiracy theory hat on, someone hacked it and caused it to never unfold