
Starshade Would Take Formation Flying to Extremes - bookofjoe
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7420
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FreeFull
[https://xkcd.com/975/](https://xkcd.com/975/) I can't resist linking to the
relevant xkcd. It's definitely nice to see this actually done in real life

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MayeulC
I thought this would be about flying in formation for consumer planes.

Couldn't some fuel economies realized that way?

More impressive yet than the article are proposals for space telescopes made
of millions of accurately positioned mirrors. With a spherical constellation,
you can cover the whole sky at once.

I wonder if such a constellation would require a star shade, or if you could
just orient some mirrors not to reflect their light?

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tomatotomato37
I wonder what type of RCS system these craft are going to have; I'd imagine it
would be very straining on fuel resources if a regular system were employed.
Has ionic engine technology advanced enough yet to employ multiple thrusters
around the craft?

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greglindahl
Yes, there are a ton of all-electric satellites up there already.

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maxxxxx
That's exciting stuff. Let's hope they'll do it.

