Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Folly and Risks of Deploying Large Constellations of Low Earth Orbit Satellites to Illuminate Earth
A California company called ReflectOrbital has been granted permission by the US FCC to test out their space mirror concept.
Their proposal is to put a constellation of up to 50,000 space mirrors in Low Earth Orbit to provide illumination at night of various regions.
What could go wrong? How much light pollution would there be? What about the elevated risks of triggering a Kessler Syndrome whereby cascading collisions fill up low Earth orbit with debris chunks shutting down human access to space for decades to a century?
Who knows...
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
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References and Links:
Proposed Orbital Space Mirrors:
google.ca/search?q=proposed+orbital+space+mirrors&sca_esv=0ca1614a8e79126c&hl=en&sxsrf=APpeQnvl7jvP7e9-AFrGt9nqPeGIGtw2oQ:1786559658702&source=hp&biw=960&bih=472&ei=qrx8asyNIrPtmLQPgO-jeA&iflsig=ABILxe8AAAAAanzKunps5-18N6umpIHKxfXQ3BpaQggR&ved=0ahUKEwjMisau3ZuWAxWzNoYAHYD3CA8Q4dUDCBg&uact=5&oq=proposed+orbital+space+mirrors&gs_lp=EgNpbWcaAhgCIh5wcm9wb3NlZCBvcmJpdGFsIHNwYWNlIG1pcnJvcnNIjUpQAFjwQnAAeACQAQCYAUugAYsOqgECMzC4AQPIAQD4AQGKAgtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ5gCEaACzgjCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICDhAAGIAEGIoFGLEDGIMBwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAgUQABiABMICERAAGIAEGIoFGLEDGIMBGIsDwgIEEAAYHsICBhAAGAUYHsICBhAAGAgYHpgDAJIHAjE3oAfQULIHAjE3uAfOCMIHCDAuMTEuNS4xyAc1gAgB&sclient=img&udm=2
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) article:
Giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight at night? No thank you, astronomers say
California company wants to launch thousands of mirrors to space
cbc.ca/news/science/reflect-orbital-space-mirror-9.6947427
CBC article on FCC approval:
U.S. FCC approves giant space mirror to deliver 'sunlight on demand,' but what are the legal implications?
Company's proposal of 50,000 mirrors would be 'catastrophic for astronomy,' says one professional astronomer
cbc.ca/news/science/reflect-orbital-approval-fcc-9.7287535
Draft version of scientific paper examining light pollution effects from large mirrors in space.
Title: Atmospheric Light Pollution by Proposed Reflect Orbital Space Mirrors
Abstract
ReflectOrbital is planning to launch a 18 × 18 m mirror in space at a ∼600 km altitude to illuminate a 2.5 km radius circular patch on Earth. The pilot satellite, called EARENDIL-1, is a pathfinder for a constellation of ∼50,000 larger mirrors, each with 54 × 54 m in diameter, with the explicit goal to provide space-borne illumination on Earth. We calculate the sky brightness caused by the Rayleigh scattering and aerosol scattering of the incoming beam from one such satellite and by the light reflected back by the illuminated patch, for various atmospheric properties and ground albedos under cloud-free conditions. We demonstrate that the light pollution caused by one of these satellites is very significant, altering the nighttime environment up to distances of ∼30 kms. The results show that for an observer within the beam of a single 54 m satellite, the mirror will appear as a −16.7 mag point-like source,
i.e. about 4 magnitudes brighter than the full moon. The diffuse sky background will be similar to the dusk sky shortly after sunset; too bright to see even the brightest stars. From a distance of 14 km, the glow from a single mirror will exceed the luminance of the full moon sky for majority of the sky. From a distance of 34 km the sky will still appear brighter than the moon-lit sky in the direction of the beam. If 400 such mirrors illuminate the same patch simultaneously, the glow will be obvious from 80 kms.
Keywords: Light pollution, Night sky brightness, Diffuse radiation, Artificial satellites, Light scattering, Radiative transfer simulations, Techniques: photometric
Direct link to science paper:
arxiv.org/pdf/2608.06433
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
Folly and Risks of Deploying Large Constellations of Low Earth Orbit Satellites to Illuminate Earth
A California company called ReflectOrbital has been granted permission by the US FCC to test out their space mirror concept.
Their proposal is to put a constellation of up to 50,000 space mirrors in Low Earth Orbit to provide illumination at night of various regions.
What could go wrong? How much light pollution would there be? What about the elevated risks of triggering a Kessler Syndrome whereby cascading collisions fill up low Earth orbit with debris chunks shutting down human access to space for decades to a century?
Who knows...
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
References and Links:
Proposed Orbital Space Mirrors:
google.ca/search?q=proposed+orbital+space+mirrors&sca_esv=0ca1614a8e79126c&hl=en&sxsrf=APpeQnvl7jvP7e9-AFrGt9nqPeGIGtw2oQ:1786559658702&source=hp&biw=960&bih=472&ei=qrx8asyNIrPtmLQPgO-jeA&iflsig=ABILxe8AAAAAanzKunps5-18N6umpIHKxfXQ3BpaQggR&ved=0ahUKEwjMisau3ZuWAxWzNoYAHYD3CA8Q4dUDCBg&uact=5&oq=proposed+orbital+space+mirrors&gs_lp=EgNpbWcaAhgCIh5wcm9wb3NlZCBvcmJpdGFsIHNwYWNlIG1pcnJvcnNIjUpQAFjwQnAAeACQAQCYAUugAYsOqgECMzC4AQPIAQD4AQGKAgtnd3Mtd2l6LWltZ5gCEaACzgjCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICDhAAGIAEGIoFGLEDGIMBwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAgUQABiABMICERAAGIAEGIoFGLEDGIMBGIsDwgIEEAAYHsICBhAAGAUYHsICBhAAGAgYHpgDAJIHAjE3oAfQULIHAjE3uAfOCMIHCDAuMTEuNS4xyAc1gAgB&sclient=img&udm=2
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) article:
Giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight at night? No thank you, astronomers say
California company wants to launch thousands of mirrors to space
cbc.ca/news/science/reflect-orbital-space-mirror-9.6947427
CBC article on FCC approval:
U.S. FCC approves giant space mirror to deliver 'sunlight on demand,' but what are the legal implications?
Company's proposal of 50,000 mirrors would be 'catastrophic for astronomy,' says one professional astronomer
cbc.ca/news/science/reflect-orbital-approval-fcc-9.7287535
Draft version of scientific paper examining light pollution effects from large mirrors in space.
Title: Atmospheric Light Pollution by Proposed Reflect Orbital Space Mirrors
Abstract
ReflectOrbital is planning to launch a 18 × 18 m mirror in space at a ∼600 km altitude to illuminate a 2.5 km radius circular patch on Earth. The pilot satellite, called EARENDIL-1, is a pathfinder for a constellation of ∼50,000 larger mirrors, each with 54 × 54 m in diameter, with the explicit goal to provide space-borne illumination on Earth. We calculate the sky brightness caused by the Rayleigh scattering and aerosol scattering of the incoming beam from one such satellite and by the light reflected back by the illuminated patch, for various atmospheric properties and ground albedos under cloud-free conditions. We demonstrate that the light pollution caused by one of these satellites is very significant, altering the nighttime environment up to distances of ∼30 kms. The results show that for an observer within the beam of a single 54 m satellite, the mirror will appear as a −16.7 mag point-like source,
i.e. about 4 magnitudes brighter than the full moon. The diffuse sky background will be similar to the dusk sky shortly after sunset; too bright to see even the brightest stars. From a distance of 14 km, the glow from a single mirror will exceed the luminance of the full moon sky for majority of the sky. From a distance of 34 km the sky will still appear brighter than the moon-lit sky in the direction of the beam. If 400 such mirrors illuminate the same patch simultaneously, the glow will be obvious from 80 kms.
Keywords: Light pollution, Night sky brightness, Diffuse radiation, Artificial satellites, Light scattering, Radiative transfer simulations, Techniques: photometric
Direct link to science paper:
arxiv.org/pdf/2608.06433
Please donate to PaulBeckwith.net to support my research and videos connecting the dots on abrupt climate system mayhem.
GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/help-paul-continue-his-climate-emergency-research
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel. As well as my website, and YouTube, you can find me on Patreon, Facebook, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit (multiple climate channels within), Quora, TikTok, Discord, Mastodon, Twitch, Vimeo, Bluesky, TruthSocial, Threads, Substack, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc...
