FCC Approves Test of Space Mirror to Light Night Sky Despite Outcry

The Federal Communications Commission has approved plans by a start-up company to test a satellite that would use a 60-foot mirror to reflect sunlight back to Earth after dark, as part of a project the company says would power solar farms, provide light for rescue workers, and illuminate city streets. In a license issued on July 9, the FCC gave the green light for Reflect Orbital of Hawthorne (CA) to launch its Eärendil-1 satellite into low Earth orbit. The company plans to deploy its test satellite in 2026 but has said it eventually wants to send as many as 50,000 big mirrors into space. The approval came despite a flood of opposition from astronomers, wildlife experts, and others who say the light from the mirrors could distract airplane pilots, wreak havoc on astronomical observations, and interfere with circadian rhythms, the light-and-dark cycles that help people, animals and plants know when to wake and sleep, to bloom or to migrate.