New ‘space mirror’ satellite aims to bring sunlight to Earth even during the night
SMRTR summary
A California startup called Reflect Orbital just received FCC approval to launch Eärendil-1, a satellite carrying a 60-foot reflective mirror designed to beam sunlight to Earth on demand. The goal is to power solar farms at night, support emergency operations, and enable round-the-clock agriculture. However, astronomers and safety advocates are alarmed, warning that scaled deployment of up to 50,000 mirrors could increase night-sky brightness by 300 percent, threatening wildlife, telescopes, and even pilots' vision.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to Interesting Engineering.
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