Marwan Barghuti, il Nelson Mandela palestinese?
La verità della storia.
Ieri, durante una trasmissione su La7, si è svolto un acceso confronto tra Marco Grimaldi e Davide Parenzo. Come spesso accade, Parenzo ha finito per commentarsi da solo. Nel momento in cui si discuteva della possibile liberazione di Marwan Barghuti, Parenzo lo ha definito un “terrorista”.
Eppure, tutti sanno che Marwan Barghuti è un parlamentare palestinese, incarcerato dal 2002 senza prove concrete a sostegno delle accuse che gli sono state mosse. È stato membro dell’OLP, l’Organizzazione per la Liberazione della Palestina, e dirigente di Fatah. Le imputazioni nei suoi confronti non sono mai state suffragate da fatti, ma questo non ha impedito che restasse in carcere per oltre vent’anni.
Il paragone tra Barghuti e Nelson Mandela nasce in modo naturale. Quando Mandela era membro dell’ANC, l’African National Congress, movimento che lottava contro l’apartheid, possedeva un carisma straordinario. Durante la sua lunga detenzione, l’ANC attraversò momenti di divisione, ma una volta libero Mandela riuscì a riunire il popolo sudafricano.
Allo stesso modo, Marwan Barghuti rappresenta una figura capace di unire il popolo palestinese, ed è proprio per questo che non viene liberato. Persino Benjamin Netanyahu lo ha ammesso apertamente: la sua liberazione potrebbe “unire tutti i palestinesi”, un rischio che il potere israeliano non vuole correre.
A un certo punto, Parenzo ha sostenuto che Mandela “non ha mai fatto la lotta armata”. Forse sarebbe il caso che studiasse meglio la storia. Mandela non fu arrestato perché faceva volare le colombe o portava fiori ai colonialisti bianchi, ma perché faceva parte del braccio armato dell’ANC, l’Umkhonto we Sizwe, “La Lancia della Nazione”.
Mandela partecipò ad azioni di sabotaggio, a scontri armati con il braccio militare del regime dell’apartheid, a dirottamenti di linee ferroviarie, a boicottaggi e ad attacchi simbolici contro le strutture del potere coloniale interno. Accanto a lui si distinsero figure come Chris Hani, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Solomon Mahlangu, Joe Gqabi, Ashley Kriel e Steve Biko, intellettuale e leader del Movimento della Coscienza Nera, brutalmente assassinato dalla polizia sudafricana nel 1977. Tutti furono protagonisti di una resistenza che combinava la forza delle idee con la determinazione della lotta concreta contro un sistema disumano.
Mandela ebbe “la fortuna” di essere arrestato e condannato a 27 anni di carcere, invece di essere ucciso come molti dei suoi compagni. Durante la detenzione, si trasformò progressivamente nella coscienza morale del Sudafrica, simbolo di un popolo oppresso ma non piegato.
Dopo la sua liberazione, Mandela divenne il volto della riconciliazione nazionale. Ma questo non cancella le sue origini nella lotta armata e nella resistenza politica. Al contrario, testimonia la sua evoluzione da combattente a statista, da rivoluzionario a mediatore.
Spesso viene romanticamente descritto solo come “l’uomo del perdono”, come se la sua grandezza derivasse da una mitezza innata. In realtà, Mandela aveva conosciuto il male, la tortura, l’umiliazione e la perdita, ma scelse consapevolmente la via della riconciliazione come atto politico e morale, non come resa.
Perdonò senza dimenticare, perché sapeva che il futuro del Sudafrica non poteva fondarsi sulla vendetta, ma sulla giustizia. La sua missione fu quella di ricostruire un Paese devastato, mantenendo aperta la mano anche verso i sudafricani bianchi, per ricucire ciò che la violenza aveva spezzato.
Romanzare la sua storia, ignorando la parte più dura e radicale della sua lotta, significa falsificare la verità storica.
Il caso di Marwan Barghuti è diverso solo in apparenza. È accusato di terrorismo per fatti mai provati, ma la sua colpa è politica: rappresenta l’unità e la resistenza del popolo palestinese. Ed è questa la vera ragione per cui rimane in prigione.
Vorrei dire a Davide Parenzo: se non conosci la storia di Mandela, è meglio studiarla o tacere. Dopo il carcere, Mandela divenne un uomo di pace e di dialogo, ma non rinnegò mai la lotta da cui era partito. E quando il Sudafrica si liberò dall’apartheid, cercò di reinserire il Paese nel contesto internazionale, mantenendo però sempre un profondo sostegno alla causa palestinese, fino agli ultimi giorni della sua vita.
Non va dimenticato che Nelson Mandela figurava ancora nelle liste dei “terroristi” del Mossad, della CIA e di diversi servizi segreti europei fino a due anni prima della sua morte, avvenuta nel 2013.
Questo la dice lunga su come il sistema colonialista continui a etichettare come “terroristi” coloro che si oppongono alla violenza e all’ingiustizia.
Soumaila Diawara
#Barghuti #Mandela
#Gazatregua
@attualita@diggita.com
@attualita@mastodon.uno
Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Reflect Orbital (RO) reflectorbital.com/ wants customers to pay them to reflect beams of sunlight down from
orbit. This is called “sunlight as a service.”
Their initial plan is for each beam to be several times as bright as the full moon and at least 5 km in diameter on the ground.
darkskyconsulting.com/blog/the…
Due to the high speed needed to orbit Earth, each satellite will shine on one point for only
a few minutes at most (Reflect Orbital says 4 minutes thetundradrums.com/reflect-orb…)
Reflect Orbital: The Startup Letting You Order Sunlight from Space (2025)
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •If the mirrors cannot be stowed between pointings every 4 minutes, they will sweep across the ground as they move between one target and the next.
At their proposed size, a single RO satellite is orders-of-magnitude too faint to power a solar panel on the ground, thus many would be required to power solar panels. youtube.com/watch?v=lkjyeI0ykG…
RO has applied to the FCC for their first satellite launch in mid-2026, stating they plan to launch thousands of these satellites orbitaltoday.com/2025/07/31/st…
- YouTube
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •The costs to safety and human health:
Although the ground illumination from the first satellite will be much fainter than the Sun’s, looking at the satellite with binoculars or a telescope could actually damage your eyes, similar to looking at a partial solar eclipse. articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/fu…
2000JRASC..94..237L Page 237
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Having thousands of RO satellites in orbit would lead to frequent bright flashes all over the sky for any observer on the ground. Even millisecond flashes of light at night have been shown to disrupt human circadian rhythms. journals.plos.org/plosone/arti…
Exposure to artificial light at night is linked to increased risks of some types of cancer. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/…
Response of the Human Circadian System to Millisecond Flashes of Light
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •The costs to astronomy:
Have you noticed how bright the sky is the last few nights with the very bright nearly-full moon? Now imagine a point source 4x brighter, and moving across the sky. That's what they want to do
Astronomy requires dark skies to see faint celestial objects. Due to scattering of light along the beam, anytime an RO satellite is above the horizon, it would disrupt any
ground-based optical astronomy telescopes in the area. digitalcommons.usu.edu/smallsa…
Night Sky Brightness Caused by Orbital Reflectors
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Similar to astronomical observing with a full moon in the sky, it would restrict observations to only the very brightest handful of stars and planets. This would cause the vast majority of astronomy research to be impossible while one or more of these satellites is above the horizon.
Directly shining the beam onto a large telescope (anywhere within 5km of a large telescope facility) could damage sensitive research telescope camera equipment, which are calibrated to study faint celestial objects
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •The costs to ecology:
These are too numerous to even try to list.
All life on Earth – including humans, migrating birds, pollinating insects, plankton in the oceans – depends on the natural day-night cycle of light and darkness. Many hundreds of scientific studies document the importance to ecosystems and agricultural crops of protecting that natural cycle. Bird migrations, pollination, plant growth, and animal behaviors could all be disrupted by reflected sunlight from orbit.
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •The costs to orbital safety:
“Sunlight as a service” requires huge mirrors in orbit, which would increase the likelihood of collisions between satellites.
Loss of control could lead to tumbling, causing erratic, bright flashes in the sky.
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •reshared this
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •There are already solutions right here on Earth to many of the problems “sunlight as a service” purports to solve. This approach is simply a reckless and inefficient use of Earth orbit, a precious and finite resource.
This list of facts was developed by me and a bunch of very concerned astronomers. If you're a journalist interested in writing a news article about this, please look up my university email and contact me, and I'll be happy to chat.
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •What can you do? The FCC never opened up a comment period on RO's filing for launch, so there's no official way to protest. They may open it up later? Absolutely no info on that.
DarkSky International is working on a petition to be delivered to RO's misguided investors, I will share that as soon as its public.
Most important: tell people about all the downsides of "sunlight as a service." The world needs to know how incredibly bad this idea is.
Batteries! We need batteries, not space mirrors.
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Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •A US startup plans to deliver ‘sunlight on demand’ after dark. Can it work – and would we want it to?
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Roger Moore
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Martin
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Ko Simon toku ingoa
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •surely if any other country that isn’t the one which allowed it to happen has a problem, they could take it out with a missile?
It’s a private company’s property, so it’s not state vs. state violence and therefore couldn’t be seen as an act of war, only an act of self-preservation.
Brokar
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Another brilliant idea to waste investor money and get rich on the way until the project fails.
"It would eventually be followed by about 4,000 satellites in orbit by 2030"
That's another problem. As we don't have enough satellites in orbit and plans for more already. Ah meh, adding another 4000 here, another 6000 there doesn't matter, right?
Nowadays, i'd rather have "brain on demand" than "sunlight on demand".
Jay Thoden van Velzen ☁️🛡️
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Elon Muksis 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇪🇺
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Techbro just wants to be a Bond villain.
youtu.be/3j2tLhnn38Y
- YouTube
youtu.beChris Hayes
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Znamya failed because of financial and deployment issues.
Russian orbital mirror experiments in the 1990s
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Sepia Fan
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •»If one 54 metre satellite is 15,000 times fainter than the midday Sun, you would need 3,000 of them to achieve 20% of the midday Sun.
Another issue: satellites at a 625km altitude move at 7.5 km/s. So a satellite will be within 1,000 km of a given location for max. 3.5 minutes.
To provide even an hour, you’d need thousands more. [3,000 x 20 = 60,000?]
#ReflectOrbital isn’t lacking ambition. In one interview, Nowack suggested 250,000 satellites in 600km high orbits.« 🤯
#FAFO
Ben Evans
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Welkin
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Fardels Bear
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •"It remains to be seen whether Reflect Orbital’s project will get off the ground. The company may launch a test satellite, but it’s a long way from that to getting 250,000 enormous mirrors constantly circling Earth to keep some solar farms ticking over for a few extra hours a day."
Primarily designed to suck up huge amounts of money from gullible investors. It worked for AI, with disastrous consequences.
Every Springfield wants to beat Shelbyville in the race for the monorail.
Martin
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Is there anybody dumb enough to spend money on this?
James Green
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •The true cost of “solar power at night” with Reflect Orbital
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David Penfold
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •The big thing is at the end -we already have solutions such as inexpensive LiFePO4 storage to couple with renewables. This is really simple stuff.
derptron
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •@startswithabang I wonder if people in places like ancient Egypt bitched about the pointlessness of the gods demanding them waste all their effort and resources building small mountains for them.
"Next thing you know they're gonna want us to put giant mirrors in space to reflect the sun so they can pretend to control that too."
All the various other places...
"Why we building these stupid statues pointing out to sea when we're all dying?"
Dan Sugalski
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •oisin
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Manda
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Learn how to be responsible first.
Andrew Deacon
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Eoin O'Beara
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Hermancy
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Have I mentioned how much I like Nicole Mortillaro? Great article, includes quotes from @JohnBarentine (there were various good reasons why she didn't interview me for this one, but fortunately a lot of other astronomers besides me are really worried about Reflect Orbital's thoughtless plan)
cbc.ca/news/science/reflect-or…
Reflect Orbital is stupid and will cause countless problems with no measurable benefits.
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ECHAEA
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •@JohnBarentine
It is not a device, it is a weapon.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimed…
Archimedes' heat ray - Wikipedia
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Graham Janz
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Graham Janz
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •PetterOfCats
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Gondor
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Although - according to our history it seems not the worst idea to lock ourselves in.🤔
No "space" needs us out there.😬
Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •New article from Smithsonian Magazine about how stupid Reflect Orbital's plans are: smithsonianmag.com/science-nat…
Features interviews with me and several of my excellent astronomer colleagues on the American Astronomical Society Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment! Looks like Reflect Orbital has followed SpaceX's lead and stopped responding to journalist inquiries.
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WTL
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to WTL • • •@WTL I say exactly that in the article!
Though I didn't get to scream WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS?! like I really wanted to
WTL
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Stop space mirrors!!
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Inky says "What the hell?!"
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Not trying hard enough 🦎
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Ya, petitions need to include specific details about how the list of signatures will be used. Most don't, this one doesn't. It's just a feel good action otherwise.
Liberal politics in a nutshell
David
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •DarkSky International just posted their position letter on Reflect Orbital. It is direct and to the point:
"Based on current scientific evidence, DarkSky does not see a viable pathway for such systems to align with responsible lighting principles or with our mission to protect natural darkness. These systems would introduce significant ecological, human health, safety, and astronomical risks at a global scale."
Read their letter and add your name here:
darksky.org/news/organizationa…
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KellyAnn Romanych (she/her)
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •SmashedRatOnPress
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •glasspshr
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •BobReflected
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Patrick Herd
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Patrick Herd • • •@PatrickHerd WHAT. WHAT WHAT WHAT.
THIS is who wants to destroy the sky for $$? Ugh.
Patrick Herd
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Chris Kletsch
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •"DarkSky International" vs. "Reflect Orbital" does sound a little comical.
Waiting for Bruce Wayne and Bruce Banner to take sides soon
Fardels Bear
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •staringatclouds
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •So when you teach your children not to look at the sun during daytime as it can burn their retina
Remember to stop them looking at the stars at night as they might accidentally look at one of these stupid fucking mirrors too long & also burn their retina
dryad
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Ed Sullivan
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Camaleon 🍉🇺🇦
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •I cant imagine any physicist who is not shock with this nonsense...
Michel Patrice
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •FediThing
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe
in reply to FediThing • • •S.R. Weaver
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Alien software, human hardware
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Saupreiss #Präparat500 🗽
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Stoneface Vimes
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Tom Ritchford
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Joe (TBA)
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Can you imagine how many people's eyes will be damaged by accidental entry into the field of view of an amateur telescope? I had to blink away for several minutes seeing the full moon through my 30 cm telescope while I was "space walking" with a slow slew speed and a one degree field of view. I can't imagine a near point source 4x brighter. Actually, it would be similar to seeing a bit of the sun through the telescope. Very dangerous.
This is insane.
Xdej
in reply to Joe (TBA) • • •Are you sure a passing Reflect Orbital "sunlight as a service" satellite-mounted mirror needs a telescope or binoculars to permanently damage an eye?
@sundogplanets
Joe (TBA)
in reply to Xdej • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Joe (TBA) • • •2000JRASC..94..237L Page 237
articles.adsabs.harvard.eduAri "Second Breakfast" Jackson
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •I can't even wrap my head around why somebody would want to do this as a service. (I don't need you to write out an explanation; I don't want to take up your time that way. I will look it up.)
I think this is one of the stupidest things I have seen proposed recently. Next thing you know we'll have LED billboards in space or... whatever.
That's not the future I want! I want dark nights and to be able to see the Milky Way from my house, and for birds not to get lost in their migration paths and healthier sleep and... I guess I want to time travel back to the 1200s, when there were no satellites and no electric lights. Grrrr.
Roy
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •3Jane Tessier Ashpool
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •I know this isn’t the only focus but um isn’t this going to contribute to global warming? By shining more sun into the atmosphere?
Also who the heck will pay for this and pay enough to be a profitable endeavor for anyone?
Michael Busch
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Something that I had not thought to ask before:
Have the Reflect Orbital people even acknowledged the fairly short orbital lifetime a mirror would have at 625 km?
I do not recall them mentioning fuel or thrusters for boosting.
Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Michael Busch • • •@michael_w_busch That's an excellent question. There are MANY technical questions that astronomers keep asking them that they have flailed to answer.
I have no doubt their project will fail to deliver its intended goal, but I'm extremely worried about how much damage it will cause in the mean time.
Michael Busch
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •David Mitchell
in reply to Michael Busch • • •@michael_w_busch
Yes, but we need to keep reminding ourselves and others that at scale, ‘deorbiting’ satellites is just another way of saying ‘pumps metals and rare earths into the upper atmosphere’ and there’s no way that could go wrong is there?
@sundogplanets
Michael Busch
in reply to David Mitchell • • •@DavidM_yeg
That is true.
But I do not have a mass breakdown for what Reflect Orbital is trying to launch - they have been inconsistent in reporting the size of the claimed mirror. So I cannot say how much they would contribute to atmospheric pollution.
As @sundogplanets wrote, the question is how much of a mess the group makes before this all stops.
David Mitchell
in reply to Michael Busch • • •@michael_w_busch
We’re already there though… the Starlink model is to orbit and then ‘deorbit’ satellites by the thousands. The standard ‘space guy’ response to any concerns has become some version of ‘that’s ok, we’ll just be deorbiting them all, so nothing’s permanent’ which is, of course, bullshit.
@sundogplanets
Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to David Mitchell • • •Chris Goss
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Bernie Luckily Does It
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Preston MacDougall
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •How do photons propel solar sails? | Astronomy.com
Astronomy Staff (Astronomy magazine)bouriquet
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •The consequences are global in either case.
Jenica Lake
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •wrobertson
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •miki
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Genuine question, do (professional) astronomers in 2025 still rely on visible light to make their discoveries? It seems like such a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum. If so, what makes this part of the spectrum more useful to science than any other?
I'm asking as somebody who knows absolutely nothing about modern astronomy.
Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to miki • • •@miki #astronomy
Who wants to answer this? I am too grumpy to do a good job right now (assuming it's a genuine question)
Geert Uytterhoeven
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Morre
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Ygor
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Unbelievable. @pluralistic did say that rent-seekers would try to control solar energy, but this is just beyond ridiculous.
pluralistic.net/2025/09/23/our…
Pluralistic: The enshittification of solar (and how to stop it) (23 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.netD. G. Marshall
in reply to Ygor • • •@ygor @pluralistic
There's an old (1970s?) cartoon (which I can't find right now) of an executive behind his big desk.
"You want oil?" he asks. "We own the oil wells."
"You want coal? We own the coal mines."
"You want nuclear? We own the uranium mines."
"You want solar? We own...er...um...solar doesn't work!"
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Joelle A Godfrey
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •KFears
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •What the fuck?
People have joked about Sunlight as a Service. It was supposed to be a joke. How the fuck is this a reality we live in now?
Thank you for bringing attention to this absurdity.
Preston MacDougall
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •How do photons propel solar sails? | Astronomy.com
Astronomy Staff (Astronomy magazine)Lord Tom Klopf of CZ
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Kevin Pittman
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •This is another piece of surreal madness. Musk's satellite network comes from the same mental pathology. A couple of years ago, I witnessed 19 satelittes reflecting the sun while separating from their launch vehicle, visible from my 'dark sky' deck in Newfoundland, but actually happening hundreds of kilometres in the sky above The Netherlands. 19 of nearly 9,000 as of September of this year. Musk plans 32,000 more to complete his so called 'megaconstellation'.
Astronomers have for decades been understandably loud about the problems that the congestion in our skies poses for earth based observatories. That's bad enough, but real risks are increased for every human occupied space craft, particularly as collision particles scatter with bullet speeds in random directions through and across the orbits of everything else up there.
Earthlings, those in cities, towns and rural areas are also at increasing risk when sky-junk falls among us--not always in the ocean or in farm fields.
Where are the people and institutions for the protection of the skies above us (and by extension, those living underneath). For now we learn that Musk's marbles in space are falling to Earth every day.
"University of Maryland. Scientists Denny Oliveira, Eftyhia Zesta, and Katherine Garcia-Sage have uncovered compelling evidence that solar storms—those explosive, radiation-spewing tempests from our nearest star—are cutting short the orbital lives of Starlink satellites.... 'It’s not just about satellites falling faster—it’s about them falling unpredictably,' said co-author Eftyhia Zesta. 'And unpredictability is the last thing you want when you have thousands of satellites overhead'.” (space.com/spacex-starlink-sate…)
Starlink satellites: Facts, tracking and impact on astronomy
Tereza Pultarova (Space)Charlie Phillips/Dolphinchaz
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Willow (previously Stella)
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •EVHaste
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •howdy fam! If you still have those fact sheets I’d love to take a look.
I don’t have a ton of experience so I might not be the right person to cover it, but I confess the concept of startup getting funded to build an orbital cancer laser has captured my curiosity.
digital_bohemian
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •🇨🇦 Dianne S
in reply to digital_bohemian • • •@digital_bohemian Yeah... do you get a refund if the sunlight you paid for doesn't reach you?
What a boneheaded concept.
sortius
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •this is gobsmacking, but expected from the US right now.
Even a stoner kid with a few plants in their cupboard knows about how important the day night cycle is. It's the difference between bushy growth, sticky-icky, and dead plants
Doctor Historianess
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Annalee Newitz 🍜
in reply to Doctor Historianess • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
Unknown parent • • •Roberto Otárola Estrada
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •@sundogplanets
crispycat
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Jordi (Y'all'd'n't've)
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •unsponsor
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Russian orbital mirror experiments in the 1990s
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Chu 朱
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Panicky_Patzer
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Critter (Mike)
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Critter (Mike) • • •1962 U.S. nuclear test
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)SnowBlind2005
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •You mean to tell me that all you have to do is attach a flashlight to a balloon and dip shits will send you loads of money?
I wonder if the angle is to sue everyone with a solar collector claiming that they are either stealing their sunlight or bypassing their sun light using actual sun light.
How are they going to prevent us from using the Moon Light?
The farming industry should wake up over this because this could cause crops to go ape shit with wacky light cycles. Unfortunately they are on their own bat shit journey.
Or perhaps it's some naming dibs/rights before the fusion reactors come online. (In the next 10 years.)
It seems people are constantly schemeng ways to charge rent on everyone on the planet.
I guess we can throw rocks at it.
I'm done rambling....
Free Pietje 🇵🇸 🍉
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Thanks for doing this though!
acm
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Voracious Reader
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •David P
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Pete Orrall (backup account)
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Ko Simon toku ingoa
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Ko Simon toku ingoa • • •Chase
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •johnny anhedonic
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Julian Oliver
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Be interesting to know what their comms surface looks like. TX/RX relative position with each other? Any dependence on GNSS for on-ground acquisition? Near-earth satellites are not so far away as to be immune to a directional antenna and some well crafted RF noise.
Similarly, if their beam was narrower, a large concave mirror on earth reflecting energy back to them may implement a stressor, esp if they have sensors on board for which that excess is not anticipated. Book a ray, setup mirror, DoS
icastico
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •I used their “contact us” link on their website to tell them not to do it. That their idea was stupid and useless etc.
I am sure now that they won’t do it.
[sigh]
StarkRG
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Christian Schwägerl
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Chris Warwick
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Ciencia Al Poder
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •@sundogplanets
Abie
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •bbc.com/culture/article/202501…
'It could illuminate an area the size of a football stadium': How Russia launched a giant space mirror in 1993
Myles Burke (BBC)Twoowls Elt 🦉 🦉
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Jenica Lake
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •David S
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Florian
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •@heiseonline has picked up on this thread or you reaching out to them.
English article: heise.de/en/news/Astronomers-a…
Their toot with link to the German article: social.heise.de/@heiseonline/1…
It's a German site for IT news, but they cover also some other topics.
Astronomers alarmed: US satellites to reflect sunlight back to Earth
Martin Holland (heise online)heise online
2025-10-10 08:28:00
b00g13
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Je suis contente
Unknown parent • • •Maybe it's because a small number of people have so much money that they can never spend it and philanthropic is nowhere in their vocabularies.
Dmian 🇪🇺
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Celeste Ryder 🐾 🐀🏳️🌈
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Senator Paula Simons🇨🇦
in reply to Celeste Ryder 🐾 🐀🏳️🌈 • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Senator Paula Simons🇨🇦 • • •Celeste Ryder 🐾 🐀🏳️🌈
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •@Paulatics Oh PLEASE DO
There are quite a few people who would be absolutely DELIGHTED and overjoyed to have to translate that for the record! 🥹
MinmiTheDino
Unknown parent • • •Truly. Just a handful of rich people with total disregard for the wellbeing of the ppl they depend on and the maturity level of 12 year olds who think SPACE MIRROR COOL.
Willow (she/her)
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Hopefully lots of noise gets made about how awful this would be.
Local Dad, Ben Hamill
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •WesDym
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Florian Schmidt
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •heise.de/en/news/Astronomers-a…
Astronomers alarmed: US satellites to reflect sunlight back to Earth
Martin Holland (heise online)fedithom
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •J. Peterson
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •It's worth scrubbing through the EEVblog video she links.
TL, DW - Dave's simple back of the envelope math reveals the sunlight spreads out to a few hundred MILLIwatts / m^2. Not even enough energy to run the power inverters the solar cells are connected to. Recovered energy == zero.
This is Nikola / Theranos level fraud.
Prof. Sam Lawler
Unknown parent • • •@martinvermeer @tml I'll just say that if they have thousands of satellites, they will have to be at many different altitudes. Something at 600km altitudes is easily visible for a couple hours after sunset or before sunrise, which is fully dark - that's when you see all the Starlink satellites.
18x18m is their first satellite size. Large enough to be damaging to your eyes if it's reflecting sunlight and you accidentally look at it with binoculars. I'd say that's a really big problem.
Martin Vermeer FCD
Unknown parent • • •@tml But as I was arguing, it is visible _well beyond_ astronomical twilight, which is when the Sun is less than 18 degrees below the horizon, and still illuminates the top of the atmosphere. I know, I have observed satellites for years.
Edit: as the name implies, 'astronomical twilight' is before the sky is dark enough to make astronomical observations, i.e., really dark.
Tor Lillqvist
Unknown parent • • •@martinvermeer But during Finnish summer nights there is more light anyway than what such a tiny orbital space mirror would provide.
The plans of this company are crazy enough as such, no need to use wild exaggerations to fight them. Just simple calculations are enough to demonstrate that it is a scam. I hope.
Martin Vermeer FCD
Unknown parent • • •aburka 🫣
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to aburka 🫣 • • •GutterPoetry
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •What the actual FUCK. How dare they? How can this be allowed?
Can we start an actual 'people's Darwin award' and humiliate these dangerous greedy sociopaths into submission?
llewelly
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •they take away stars
they blind us
from afar
oh, the irony
they poison
the very dream
which inspired
all they are
Melroy van den Berg
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Quark Maker
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •I remember recently reading an article about... I think it was China, might be wrong... talking about putting up satellites with what I imagine would be significant solar arrays, and then downlinking the power to ground stations as focused microwave beams.
I don't know if that technology is actually feasible, but even then you'd still have to be careful; it might not "blind" astronomers per se, but wouldn't it mess with radio astronomy?
Євген
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Phil Stevens
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •DdorfmitRad
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Never mind the other reasons, I'm honestly amazed that anyone thinks this is economically viable.
My guess? It's a scam for venture capital, just like Theranos.
Benjamin Sonntag-King
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •what baffles me the most is also the fact that the FCC (an american regulatory body) seems to be the only one able to accept or refuse that project...
What about all the other countries where these statellites would be passing by?
(also, thanks for the thread, very insightful)
aapis
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Number6
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •What makes you think it's really going to happen? To me it just feels like a grift.
As a side note, from time to time I do solar cooking. I've made multiple cookers with various materials. Space blanket mylar is inexpensive, but it tends to break down after a few months. You can use thicker mylar that works for like two years, but it weighs a lot more, so would cost more to launch. UV in space would be worse.
Prof. Sam Lawler
in reply to Number6 • • •David Penfold
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •- to a bunch of journalists
+ to a bunch of hitmen
Talia Hussain
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Charlie Stross
Unknown parent • • •@Remittancegirl
Tired: the Torment Nexus
Wired: the Orbital Insomnia Nexus
Todd Knarr
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Daniel Reeders
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •John
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •Apropos of nothing
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_su…
People with such dumb ideas tend to be pretty dumb. They tend to ignore the experts they hire and "move fast and break shit". But moving fast and breaking shit *IN SPACE* (as well as *AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN*) doesn't, um, work very well?
I'll be surprised if they can deploy without trying 50 times.
2023 submersible implosion in the North Atlantic Ocean
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Adam Greenfield
in reply to Prof. Sam Lawler • • •