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stuckwithaweirdo t1_j5nutvy wrote

Can't they coat with vantablack nanotubes or something?

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ACCount82 t1_j5o3sge wrote

I don't know what exactly are they using, but SpaceX did in fact develop some sort of anti-reflective coating for their sats - after the first batches turned out to be extremely reflective.

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Senyu t1_j5pzcll wrote

Has the patent for vantablack been released? I thought some douche bought all the rights to it and is dragonhoarding?

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stuckwithaweirdo t1_j5q3dsw wrote

Common misconception. Vantablack is a nanotube coating that has been created by a lab that works mainly with satellites. It's not a paint but a coating that is highly toxic until it's been scientificly adheared to the medium. The company that makes it is the one who pushed the exclusivity clause on the artist as they don't want to deal with business outside of their core offering.

The actual douche in this story is the guy selling the pigments that are similar. He has created the fake outrage story that the artist won't sell the pigment knowing very well the artist isn't a manufacturer or (even if he was) able to sell based on the actual manufacturers agreement.

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pbNANDjelly t1_j5qsg7l wrote

You're my hero. It was wild watching folks take a PR campaign so seriously

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nicuramar t1_j5sy6dy wrote

> scientificly adheared

As opposed to... regularly adhered? :)

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TalkativeVoyeur t1_j5swkhq wrote

I think they tried. But they have to deal with solar panels and some antennas that also reflect a lot of light and can't be painted. Also in space you have very limited cooling so making too much of your satellite black is not a good idea.

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