Reflect Orbital has gained FCC approval to test its Earendil-1 satellite in space. If you don’t recall what the company does (and what it wants to do), these are the space mirrors folks who want to sell the world on-demand sunlight.
It’s not like sunlight isn’t already free most of the time. You just have to wait for it to turn up again once the sun sets. But Earendil-1 hopes to test the concept that Reflect has already trialled using (probably) balloons. Now, the US Federal Communications Commission has said that they can give it a shot. Terms and conditions apply.
FCC Reflect Orbital
It’s important to note that the FCC license to launch the experimental satellite doesn’t mean a) that the eighteen-metre Earendil-1 space mirror will ever launch or b) that the rest of the project will ever get off the ground. That said, groups like the American Astronomical Society are already complaining about the possibilities. The AAS is concerned with possible eye damage for ground-based astronomers, as well as “flash blinding” of people on the ground caused by unexpected sunlight.
There are other legitimate astronomical concerns as well, but these (as seen with Starlink and other constellation satellite projects) tend to be overruled if the tech is good enough. Reflect Orbital has already pointed out the FCC’s consideration on the matter:
“We might weigh the small risk that an individual happens to be using a large telescope at the exact moment that Earendil-1 passes overhead while actively reflecting sunlight at the angle necessary to maximize exposure without notice to the public to avoid the exposure, and that the individual stares directly at Earendil-1 through that large telescope for a sufficient time to develop eye damage, against the benefits of permitting American companies to test innovative technology in space.”
Earendil-1 will, apparently, eventually lead to a massive constellation of 55-metre space mirrors (4,000 of them) if the company behind this has its way. Whether the project will ever justify the cost of launching, maintaining, and then providing services to people on the ground is… highly doubtful. Still, if they’re keen to send a mirror to space, the FCC says it’s okay. As long as the company pulls it off in the next two years.
