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A Southern California company just received approval to test a space mirror that would reflect sunlight to dark parts of planet Earth.
The Federal Communications Commission issued a license on Thursday to Reflect Orbital, an energy company based in Hawthorne. The license officially allows Reflect Orbital to launch its Earendil-1 satellite using frequencies in UHF, S-band and X-band for “telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) and data downlink to support deployment and testing of a solar reflector.”
Reflect Orbital will only be allowed to deploy one satellite at a time for now, the license states.
“Earendil-1 will use a deployable, highly specular thin-film reflector that is motorized and steerable to ensure reflected light is only visible in the targeted area to reflect sunlight to a designated target on the ground at night,” the FCC’s license says. “Earendil-1 is a single satellite and a limited, short-duration technology test exercise designed to evaluate the feasibility of Reflect Orbital’s proposed concept and to identify any challenges associated with future iterations of the technology. The results of this single-satellite mission will inform whether the concept is viable and will assist the company, its prospective customers, and other stakeholders in assessing any future larger scale deployment.”
According to the documents, several entities were against the license approval for a number of reasons, such as radio frequency interference and space debris mitigation. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, “a flood of opposition” came in from astronomers and wildlife experts, among others, who said that 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 function, animals and plants know when to wake and sleep, to bloom or to migrate.”
But federal officials eventually sided with Reflect Orbital due to public interest and “promotion of American innovation.”
This image provided by NASA, astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peers out of one …This image provided by NASA, astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman peers out of one of the Orion spacecraft’s main cabin windows, looking back at Earth, as the crew travels towards the Moon on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (NASA via AP)Read More
Not only that, but the FCC said that there is a minimal risk of harm to society.
“We find that any risks are outweighed by the public interest benefits of authorizing communications to support testing of the technology in a limited, short-duration manner to inform whether there are longer term benefits from an expanded use of this technology. We therefore disagree with assertions that ReflectOrbital has not demonstrated its proposed operations are in the public interest,” the FCC license reads. “To the contrary, it is in the public interest to make spectrum available to encourage companies to test new and innovative space activities, as it promotes American innovation and the new services and economic growth that come from that innovation.”
Reflect Orbital’s website states that the company “makes clean, abundant energy available on demand” and that its technology can help alleviate energy concerns, aid with disaster responses, fulfill industrial needs and boost agriculture.
“Humanity consumes less than one trillionth of the sun’s output, yet solar represents just 7% of global electricity production. We think humanity can and should use more – even just a fraction more – of the most powerful resource in the solar system,” the website reads in part. “Reflect Orbital is creating a new category of space-enabled infrastructure to unlock the sun’s full potential here on Earth.”
According to the site, the company plans on deploying two satellites by the end of 2026 that will be able to reflect light at 0.1 lux — or as they say, “comparable to a full moon” — for five minutes.
By 2027, they predict they will have 36 satellites in orbit that are capable of reflecting light at 2 lux for 2.5 hours, which Reflect Orbital says is comparable to street lighting.
Fast forward to 2035, and the firm wants to have more than 50,000 satellites orbiting Earth that are capable of reflecting enough light to mimic daytime for hours. They say the satellites could also operate at 100 lux — comparable to indoor work areas — for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Whether they will get that far…only time will tell. But in case they do, you may soon not be able to give someone that you “don’t have the time of day” for them.
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