| ▲ | rbanffy 3 hours ago | |
I noticed the word “heat” is not mentioned anywhere in the article. Considering this reflects 2% of the incident light and absorbs 98% of the sunlight, I would expect the cubesat to get very hot very quickly. It’s been a while since I last engineered something where thermals were a consideration, but this just doesn’t feel right. | ||
| ▲ | schiffern an hour ago | parent | next [-] | |
Correct. This is why SpaceX rejected using black coatings alone for Starlink. Mirrored surfaces that they tested instead were darker than VANTA black.[0] On some surfaces they use a SpaceX-designed coating called Low Reflectivity Black, which is the least specular space-rated paint by a factor of 5.[1] [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNc5yCYth5E#t=2430s [1] https://starlink.com/public-files/BrightnessMitigationBestPr... | ||
| ▲ | cyberax 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | |
I think it only needs to be on the Earth side of the satellite? | ||