Overview
- Leaders of major chronobiology societies warned in letters to the FCC that Reflect Orbital’s proposal would alter the natural night on a planetary scale.
- Reflect Orbital is seeking FCC approval for a 60‑foot mirror prototype that would unfurl in low Earth orbit and light a ground area about three to four miles wide.
- The company pitches “sunlight on demand” for solar farms, disaster response and industry, and it outlines a scale‑up to 1,000 mirrors in 2028, 5,000 by 2030 and 50,000 by 2035.
- Sleep and ecology experts say brighter nights can disrupt body clocks, shift breeding and migration, and trigger plant changes that rely on darkness to time growth.
- Astronomers and light‑pollution groups warn scattered light would boost sky glow and hinder telescopes, noting studies that about 15,000 satellites have already raised diffuse night brightness by roughly 10%.