zlacker

>>jonbae+(OP)
Last time these folks were mentioned on HN, there was a lot of skepticism that this is really possible to do. The issue is cooling: in space, you can't rely on convection or conduction to do passive cooling, so you can only radiate away heat. However, the radiator would need to be several kilometers big to provide enough cooling, and obviously launching such a large object into space would therefore eat up any cost savings from the "free" solar power.

More discussion: >>43977188

>>Reuben+o1
Maybe this is reductive, but there are times that I'm concerned the only thing keeping me from getting gobs and gobs of startup funds are the facts that I understand basic principles of engineering in space.

I could be wrong and this will be a slam dunk. To me, however, the costs/complexity (Cooling, SRP perturbation, stationkeeping, rendezvous, etc.) far outweigh the benefits of the Cheap as Free (tm) solar power

>>dablue+VO
Assuming these people don't understand that their ideas are unworkable is a mistake. Don't believe for a second they are stupid or ignorant.

The difference between a criminal and a law-abiding citizen isn't that the citizen knows that crimes are wrong, it's that the citizen cares that crimes are wrong and the criminal doesn't.

>>i_am_j+e31
>they are stupid or ignorant.

Nope, probably the more apt description is 'in denial'.

>>telefo+Pw2
I think that's very charitable.

I'd describe it as "kayfabe".