Selling Sunlight After Dark: One Mirror Approved, Fifty Thousand Proposed

Article summary

The United States Federal Communications Commission on 9 July 2026 authorised the launch of Eärendil-1, a demonstration satellite from the California startup Reflect Orbital that will deploy a thin-film reflector measuring 18 metres on a side and attempt to direct reflected sunlight onto specific locations on Earth after dark. The 142-kilogram spacecraft is scheduled to launch later in 2026 into an orbit of 600 to 650 kilometres, where it will test the ability to illuminate a target area for several minutes at a time. The company proposes uses including extending the operating hours of solar farms, lighting construction and agricultural work, and providing illumination during emergencies where conventional power is unavailable — and has stated an ambition to operate as many as 50,000 such reflectors by 2035. The application drew nearly 1,900 comments, most of them critical. The European Southern Observatory, which operates major telescopes in Chile, submitted that the full proposed constellation would raise background sky brightness at its facilities by a factor of three to four, degrading the ability to detect faint objects. The episode exposes a regulatory gap: the FCC's authority runs to radio spectrum, not to the deliberate illumination of the night sky, and no international regime governs artificial light projected from orbit.