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



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jul 1, 2017)

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/


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## Ja.KooLit (Jul 1, 2017)

Oh. Interesting..


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## therealmeep (Jul 1, 2017)

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.


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## blobster21 (Jul 1, 2017)

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)


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## MrGenius (Jul 1, 2017)

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!


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## infrared (Jul 10, 2017)

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?!


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## Mr.Scott (Jul 10, 2017)

infrared said:


> 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.


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## cdawall (Jul 10, 2017)

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


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## the54thvoid (Jul 11, 2017)

cdawall said:


> 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.


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## RejZoR (Jul 11, 2017)

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


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## cornemuse (Jul 11, 2017)

cdawall said:


> *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)


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jul 11, 2017)

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.


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## rtwjunkie (Jul 11, 2017)

MrGenius said:


> 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.


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## Finners (Jul 18, 2017)

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


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## xorbe (Jul 18, 2017)

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


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## dorsetknob (Jul 18, 2017)

Finners said:


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


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


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## de.das.dude (Jul 18, 2017)

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.


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## VulkanBros (Jul 18, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> 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


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## Vayra86 (Jul 18, 2017)

the54thvoid said:


> 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?


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## dorsetknob (Jul 18, 2017)

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


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## AsRock (Jul 18, 2017)

'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.




the54thvoid said:


> 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.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jul 20, 2017)

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


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 17, 2017)

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.’


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## Finners (Aug 17, 2017)

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


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## Nuckles56 (Aug 17, 2017)

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


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## dorsetknob (Aug 17, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> 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.’



What the hell Does Bad PR have to do with the Science and Operational Capacity of this Satellite

That's the lamest Excuse to give for a mission Failure ( or one for those Stupid to have been Sucked into the Crowdfunded Idea)


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Aug 17, 2017)

From what i can glean from a couple of sources the PR team is taking flak for mismanaging the meagre amounts of money they were working with.


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## dorsetknob (Aug 17, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> for mismanaging the meagre amounts of money they were working with.



Cynically smells of the Ebay Auction Brick in the Box type Scam
Crowdfund with the Item then launch a poor non working cheepo item
Product posted to an uncheckable address ( Space ).
Make up poor excuse and syphon off the Excess Cash


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## FreedomEclipse (Aug 17, 2017)

You know what they say... 

The star that shines twice as bright, burns half as long. 

I guess thats what Trump will say when he's about to shoot it out of the sky


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## FordGT90Concept (Aug 17, 2017)

This is stupid.  Earth receives about 1361 W/m2 of energy on average.  This satellite only has a reflector surface area of 16 m2.  Multiply the two together you get 21,776 W which about 18% of that is diffused by the atmosphere leaving you with 17,920 W reaching the ground.  Man has already made a 20,000 W lightbulb.  See why I'm utterly unimpressed?  This tiny satellite doesn't even come close to how much light the full moon sends reflects to Earth.  This whole concept is completely and utterly stupid.









Oh, and that lightbulb doesn't include all the other kinds of radiation that solar energy figure does so that bulb is _significantly_ brighter than this satellite.


It will be brighter than the stars (besides Sol, of course) but I still fail to see the point.


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