A Californian start-up's plan to put satellites in orbit to redirect light from the Sun is being challenged by environmental groups.
Reflect Orbital, founded in 2021, says on LinkedIn that it has been hard at work developing technology "to sell sunlight to those who need it".
With financial backing from investors including Sequoia Capital and Starship Ventures, the company has been working to build a constellation of satellites that would make it possible to "reflect sunlight down to Earth for large-scale lighting and energy applications".
The space bureau at the US Federal Communications Commission approved Reflect Orbitals' satellite in July, putting it one step closer to achieving its goal, but several conservation, climate and environmental groups want the agency to reverse that decision.
"Reflect Orbital’s business model is to sell sunlight at night for uses such as replacing streetlights, extending outdoor work hours and powering solar arrays," read a complaint filed by Earthjustice, DarkSky international, Environment America, American Bird Conservancy and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
The petition claims that Reflect Orbital's Earendil-1 satellite prototype, which contains a mirror to reflect sunlight, will harm astronomy and endanger wildlife, and cause eye damage and otherwise harm people's health.
"The unnatural 5km-wide beam of light risks interrupting the reproduction, orientation, feeding and pollinator-plant or predator-prey relationships of the third of vertebrates and majority of invertebrates that are nocturnal and therefore sensitive to night-time light," the petition reads.
The document adds that the light would disrupt human sleep "thereby altering natural circadian rhythms and suppressing melatonin production".
Reflect Orbital's website says that unlike traditional artificial lighting, the company's satellites with reflectors will not rely on electricity poles and wires.
"Reflected sunlight is natural sunlight redirected from space with mirrors," the start-up's website reads. "Our satellites will illuminate a specific area anywhere on Earth ... the light will not spill out of the defined service area."
The company website's renderings for the project show various locations in the world such as farms, sea ports, beaches and towns lit while surrounded by darkness.
"Extend work hours," it says. "Extend seasons and boost [crop] yields."
"Reflect Orbital is not commenting on the petition you cite," the company said in a statement to The National.
It included its July 9 media release shortly after it received the FCC's approval to launch Earendil-1 into low-earth orbit.
"This licence is the first step toward rigorously testing our technology's efficacy and the safeguards we have developed."
Reflect Orbital hopes to have two satellites orbiting Earth by the end of this year. By 2035, the company says it could have as many as 50,000 in low-earth orbit.
