More or less the opposite of xenzag's "Hey - that's me", the parasat is an umbrella for privacy conscious nude sunbathers. Sooner or later, Satellite/aerial imagery on the web will reach sufficient resolution to make individual people recognizable. The parasat would allow UV rays to penetrate while blocking visible light. As a bonus, it could be printed with the emoticon or rude gesture of one's choice.
-- saxman, Jan 02 2008

december 2007 corrects this to AA battery at 1500 km http://www.sciam.co...arks-electric-sense
[beanangel, Jan 02 2008]

Only if Sergei Brin is watching.
-- saxman, Jan 02 2008


I thought this was going to be a parasitic satellite. Maybe a tiny, cheap satellite that tracked a larger one, then docked with it magnetically. It could sit on top of the main satellite's radiator, using the waste heat-flux to power itself thermoelectrically. By aligning it's own antenna with that of the main satellite, it would never have to perform any corrective maneuvers itself - it would therefore need no onboard propellant apart from that needed to get it into position initially.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 02 2008


Sombrero ?
-- 8th of 7, Jan 02 2008


Read "Fiasco" by Stanislaw Lem.
-- saxman, Jan 03 2008


//if like sharks they see farther than current technology// Hold on - where did that gem come from? Do you mean to say that, rather than putting Hubble up there, we could just have opted for a large aquarium and a hammerhead?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 03 2008


other: general - there's a Q missing somewhere
-- po, Jan 03 2008



random, halfbakery