California-based startup Reflect Orbital has applied for a government license to launch a giant mirror into space next year.The company claims on its website that its constellation will enable nighttime solar power generation, allowing crops to grow better and stronger, potentially replacing city lighting, providing emergency lighting in disaster areas and enabling people to work at night.
The company plans to operate a constellation of more than 4,000 solar reflectors that will orbit the Earth in a sun-synchronous orbit along the day-night boundary to increase solar power production during Earth's twilight hours.
According to the company’s filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC),Reflect Orbital plans to launch its experimental satellite EARENDIL-1 next year, with an expected launch date of April.
Once in orbit, the satellite will deploy a 60-foot-by-60-foot (18-meter-by-18-meter) mirror to demonstrate its ability to direct sunlight to targets on Earth.
And, in May, the company won a $1.25 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the U.S. Air Force,It said its future constellations will provide paying customers with on-demand lighting before sunset and after sunrise, effectively extending daylight hours.
However, the project has raised concerns among astronomers and biological experts, who worry that the constellation will produce severe light pollution.
John Behrentine, an astronomer at the Silver Mountain Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, said these specular reflectors continue to reflect light after it passes by the target.
These beams are very intense, four times brighter than the full moon, and they will fly in swarms. This will have an impact on wildlife in the direct irradiation area, and at the same time, through atmospheric scattering, it will also have an impact on surrounding areas.
Another expert said,"The core goal of this project is to light up the sky and extend the daylight hours, and from an astronomical point of view, this is obviously catastrophic."