California-based startup Reflect Orbital aims to build a swarm of 4,000 giant mirrors in low Earth orbit to “sell sunlight” to customers at night. Experts warn that the mirrors could mess with telescopes, blind stargazers and impact the environment.
Reflect Orbital, which was 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. By doing this, the company aims to extend daylight hours in specific locations, thus allowing paying customers to generate solar power, grow crops and replace urban lighting.
But experts say it is a wildly impractical plan that should never get off the ground. What’s more, the resulting light pollution could devastate ground-based astronomy, distract aircraft pilots and even blind stargazers.
neither actually. I don’t think this is ringworld, light pollution from lighting up a single building at night with sunlight would play holy hell with the ecosystem. Along with all the other problems
even the proposed three mile patches of sunlight mentioned in the article would be incredibly impactful and in fact the article does briefly mention the environmental impact:
“Past research on light pollution has also shown that it can alter the behavior of a wide array of animals and plant species, as well as disrupt human sleep cycles.”