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moon mirror?

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posted on Jun, 14 2009 @ 03:28 PM
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I ask this question only because there are probably some people on ATS smart enough to answer it.

"How large would a mirror on the moon have to be for us to see its reflection from earth?"

"and how much would it cost to put it there?"



posted on Jun, 14 2009 @ 03:42 PM
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Funny you should ask, there already is one!

It was set up during the Apokko 11 mission:


en.wikipedia.org...



posted on Jun, 14 2009 @ 03:47 PM
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And they are not actually mirrors either, they are reflectors, like you see on bicycles. A mirror would reflect a laser off in one direction making it difficult if not impossible to detect on it's return journey. The reflector spreads out the laser that it's hit with and can be easily detected when it bounces back.



posted on Jun, 14 2009 @ 03:56 PM
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Wouldnt a big ass mirror on the moon be incredibly dangerous?

If it ever gets in the right angle, it may reflect the suns rays, increasing the brightness and heat that comes into the earth??



posted on Jun, 14 2009 @ 04:08 PM
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reply to post by president
 


interesting question. it is philisophical-esque from many angles. the image that comes to mind is that of a person walking in the desert and carrying somthing metal. the sunlight hits it and it's a tiny spark of very bright light. think about what the moon does. it reflects sunlight. that's what we see , we all know that, it's sunlight being reflected. so if you put a mirror up there then you would create the shiny object in a desert scenario but on a massive scale. to put a mirror up there that would even be close to large enough for the moon to be able to see it's own reflection (supposing the moon can see
would be like well, it would be like there were a a second sun in the sky where the moon is if the mirror were large enough. what an amazing image that would be.



posted on Jun, 14 2009 @ 04:23 PM
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So any images of this reflector from Earth? Nah thought not!

I'm pretty sure whoever owns that craft (the moon) doesn't want our crap left on it - and as for crashing our Earthbound craft into it - that could really piss them off!

wZn



posted on Jul, 6 2009 @ 05:17 PM
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Originally posted by dragonsmusic
reply to post by president
 


the image that comes to mind is that of a person walking in the desert and carrying somthing metal. the sunlight hits it and it's a tiny spark of very bright light.



Yes, that's what I am talking about. Kind of like someone stranded at sea trying to signal an airplane with a small mirror. Just a little sparkel of life in the sea.

The reflection from a handheld mirror has to be extremely strong for an airplane to see it, and I was kind of thinking that it would only take a couple of four by eight sheets to get a good enough reflection to see the sparkel at night.

I thought that not only would that look cool, and give us some feel of acomplishment and progress, it would go a long way toward motavating the people on earth to unify. You wouldn't even need a TV to see it.


Hell we could write it off as art.



posted on Jul, 6 2009 @ 08:12 PM
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Originally posted by watchZEITGEISTnow
So any images of this reflector from Earth? Nah thought not!
...

No telescope can "see" them because they are only the size of a small suitcase, but their reflected light can still be seen, in you have the proper equipment. There are several telescope all over the world that have been able to detect laser light reflected back from the various reflector arrays.

Those observatories have been doing this for over 35 years now. The reflectors are exactly where we humans left them.



[edit on 7/6/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]



posted on Jul, 6 2009 @ 08:28 PM
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On a related issue there are/were plans for a possible large reflector telescope up on the moon... It was going to be huge, far bigger than any other reflector scope, they were not planning to use a solid mirror as they would traditionally, well for many logistical reasons.

They were going to use a large spinning pool of liquid metal!! They get it to spin at just the right speed and they have the perfect curvature for the focus and I believe they even had a way to tilt the whole arrangement a few degrees for greater field of view (but by it's very nature it will be fixed to one spot in the lunar sky - I think they would want several, prob on the far side of the moon).

Of course the moon is the best place for such a scope as it requires a certain amount of gravity and with no atmosphere to blur the images it would be the most powerful telescope ever built.

So a huge spinning pool of liquid metal would make you a nice big mirror! All you gotta do is get it there!



posted on Jul, 9 2009 @ 09:29 AM
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Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People

Originally posted by watchZEITGEISTnow
So any images of this reflector from Earth? Nah thought not!
...

No telescope can "see" them because they are only the size of a small suitcase, but their reflected light can still be seen, in you have the proper equipment. There are several telescope all over the world that have been able to detect laser light reflected back from the various reflector arrays.

Those observatories have been doing this for over 35 years now. The reflectors are exactly where we humans left them.



[edit on 7/6/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]


That's pretty cool!

Do you know where the lazer light originally came from?
Is it something that they do often or even periodically?
How would I find out when they are going to do it again?
Should I just google lazer and moon?
Is it something that I can go to the local observatory and watch?



posted on Jul, 9 2009 @ 10:15 AM
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If the reflector fails, I volunteer for NASA to send my white Canadian butt up to the moon so that they can bounce lasers off of me..



second line..







 
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