What Happened When The Soviets Launched A Giant Mirror Into Space

The strangest thing Russia ever Launched into space

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[will]

So in the 90s a friend and I were walking at night in Australia when suddenly the whole valley was lit up for a few seconds. We had no idea what happened until we saw on the news the next day that it was an experimental Russian solar reflector satellite that had crossed or area for a few seconds. It was an experience that we both never forgot.

[SuLokify]

Those shots of the craft and mirror spinning are awesome. Even to this day we have few such clear and dynamic images of spacecraft maneuvering

[Frankthetank-zrmc]

I worked in Usinsk, Komi of the old USSR. OTs just Soith of the Arctic Circle. Cold and dark in the winter.

This would be a godsend for those people up there.

[aristoclesathenaioi]

Archimedes was killed by a Roman who the commander asked to meet Archimedes. The soldier came to Archimedes while Archimedes has concentrating on solving a problem and failed to respond to the Roman soldier who killed him on the spot for impudence.

[edwardsciacca]

the narrator is 100 % wrong the Focal point can be adjusted to keep it's Focal point at any distance .

[talmudovsky]

I used to know Vladimir personally. He was brilliant engineer and scientist. Find and read his book "100 Stories About Docking" in which he spilled many intricate facts and personal impressions about Soviet/Russian space program. The book is a rarity, though.

[Spuzzmacher]

Wait what? What genius said you can’t design your reflector to focus where you need it? That makes no sense at all.

[jasonpoland]

Major mistake. You used Mercury / Soyuz at 3:53 when it was Soyuz / Apollo in the 70s - where Deke Slayton finally got to fly

[Reconx]

2:30 But a lens is not a mirror. The focal length of a concave mirror can be whatever you want it to be depending on the curvature.

[Gribbo]

I believe there is a Norwegian town, which gets no direct sunlight during in winter months, that has set up a mirror on a nearby mountain to give the folks a little reflected sunlight.

[tomascernak]

You are wrong, focal point of mirror can be pretty far. For example ELT has effective diameter of mirror(s) 40 meters and focal point is 750 m. So if you aproximate those values to 9sqkm, you can get focal point 320km. In fact, it is possible to make mirrors even with larger curvature and get focal point in thousands of kilometers for such mirror sizes.

[jamminwrenches]

"I'm glad it didn't work out"
Meanwhile a company is currently working on this very project stating they will rent areas of daylight for events and emergency work like tornado/ hurricane cleanup.

[tedantares]

The idea to use a gigantic space mirror to illuminate Northern regions was first proposed by a Russian/Soviet Sci-Fi writer Alexander Beliayev in his novel "K.E.Ts. Star" published in 1936 (the name of the artificial "star" being an initialism of "Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky")

[JayRock]

Actually, back in the year 2002 there WAS another giant space mirror that was successfully launched into space and it was used as a weapon that had devastating results -even melting the ice while nearly dodging a motorist in an Aston Martin.
Facts!

[adamrussell]

2:41 is wrong. You just need the right focal length. IDK if it would work from space, but your example is ridiculous.

[jackman]

Him dying in the battle doesn't mean it didn't happen, it means the tactic wasn't as effective as intended at the very least though.

[Dmitriy_Pivko]

Folks, as a russian citizen i bielive that space race is something very good that happend in human history.
Think about this, instead of killing each other in some stupid war, the best minds explore the solar system.

[jamespaul]

No ants were harmed in the production of this video.

[sailordude]

Great space video, I never heard of this, thanks! It reminds me of the people in Rjukan that built a mirror on a mountain to have some light in their town square half the year to avoid depression.

[fireX]

Uhhh you docked a Soyuz and a Mercury together……it was an Apollo capsule…..
Great video anyway!