Controversial Space Mirror Startup Aims to Turn Night to Day

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) this month approved efforts by startup Reflect Orbital to test a new kind of satellite. This one could turn night into artificial day.

The satellite is named Eärendil-1. It is small. It is about the size of a coffee table. Once in space, though, it can unfurl a 60-foot-wide mirror that can reflect sunlight onto the dark side of Earth. The mirror can light up an area of 3 square miles as though it were day.   

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called the satellite “a potentially groundbreaking technology.” The FCC explained the move was key to maintaining US leadership in space. Reflect Orbital says the mirrors have many uses. They could be used to provide power for solar farms. They could help construction crews work through the night. And they could light disaster sites to allow for longer rescue windows. The company plans to charge $5,000 per hour of daylight provided. It plans to launch more than 6,000 space mirrors by 2030. Some will be three times larger than Eärendil-1.     

Reflect Orbital's plans have a wide range of critics, though. The American Astronomical Society sent a letter to the FCC urging it to cancel the project. It claimed the mirrors could disrupt space research that requires the darkness of the night sky. Wildlife advocates argued that artificial sunlight could mess with animals’ biological rhythms. And pilots worry its light beams could be a distraction while flying. 

Protests from the global community have been just as strong. 

“It’s terrifying to me that one country can change the night sky for everybody in the world,” Samantha Lawler told The New York Times. She's an astronomer at the University of Regina in Canada.  

Reflect: Think about a decision that affects a lot of people but is only made by a few. What makes a decision like that feel fair or unfair to you?

Photo of satellite in space from Unsplash courtesy of NASA.