Startup Plans to Sell Sunlight at Night Using Space Mirrors

A Controversial Business Model

California-based Reflect Orbital has proposed one of the most audacious business ideas of the modern era: charging about $5,000 per hour for the light of a single mirror in space . Founder and CEO Ben Nowack told SFGATE he sees the project as a way to unlock the sun's power around the clock, saying "The sun powers 99% of life on Earth. It grows all the plants. We use a ton of sunlight in solar power, but we can't use it at night. So I'm really excited to bring solar energy to nighttime."

The company, founded in 2021, has recently taken the first step in a scheme to sell sunlight at night by bouncing solar rays off giant "reflectors" that can redirect the vital resource almost anywhere on our planet. A prototype mirror called Earendil-1, planned to be 60 feet in length, could launch as soon as April 2026, according to the company's FCC application. The company envisions customers including solar farms, agricultural operations, industrial worksites, city streets, defense operations, and even public events.

By 2029, Reflect Orbital aims to have 1,000 satellites in orbit. By 2035, it hopes to have 50,000. The beam of light from any particular satellite would be roughly three miles across as it strikes the ground.

Scientific Community Sounds Alarm

The proposal has triggered fierce opposition from astronomers and scientists worldwide. Samantha Lawler, an astronomer at the University of Regina in Canada, called the overall concept "a terrible idea" and put the stakes in stark terms: "One tiny company in California can, with a few million dollars and the approval of a single U.S. federal agency, change the night sky for everyone in the world. It's horrifying."

Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the U.K.'s Royal Astronomical Society, told Space.com the astronomy community is "seriously concerned about the development, its impact and the precedent it sets," adding "The central goal of this project is to light up the sky and extend daylight, and obviously, from an astronomical perspective, that's pretty catastrophic." A survey by the American Astronomical Society in August found that over 1,400 scientists believed their work would be disrupted by Reflect Orbital's project.

The light from the illuminated satellites would largely disrupt ground-based astronomical observations and create persistent interference to telescopic imagery. James Lowenthal, an astronomer at Smith College, says "The nighttime is supposed to be dark, and these satellites are designed to turn night into day. It goes against every fiber of my existence to imagine that we could intentionally banish the night."

Technical and Environmental Concerns

Beyond astronomy, experts question whether the technology can deliver on its promises. A mirror could illuminate the same spot for a maximum of only four minutes at a time, and the reflected light would be thousands of times weaker than direct sunlight — generating only a small fraction of normal solar energy. The company's own math shows the energy returns barely justify the massive infrastructure investment, with each 180-foot production mirror delivering just 1/140,000th of midday sunlight across 18 square miles. Experts say that to achieve 20% of daytime solar intensity at a single location, you'd need over 3,000 satellites working together.

Meredith Rawls, an astronomer at the University of Washington, warned that artificial night light could disturb nocturnal species such as moths, frogs and bats, causing harm to the ecosystem. Aviation experts warn that sudden flashes of intense light could distract pilots, especially during takeoff and landing.

A constellation of its size also has the potential to increase the amount of space debris in Earth orbit and poses an additional risk to orbital collisions.

The Path Forward

The FCC is currently deliberating on whether to approve the test satellite. DarkSky International issued a statement in response to the proposed constellation, advocating for "transparency, environmental review, and public accountability before any such systems are approved or deployed."

The controversy highlights a broader question about corporate power over shared global resources. As one critic noted, this represents an unprecedented situation where a single private company could fundamentally alter humanity's view of the night sky. Whether Reflect Orbital's vision of commercialized sunlight becomes reality may depend not just on technical feasibility, but on society's willingness to trade one of our last remaining natural commons for the promise of renewable energy innovation.