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A startup wants to light up the night using giant space mirrors. Do the rest of us get a say in this wild scheme?
In Genesis, God said, “Let there be light,” and then saw that “the light was good.” Later this year, a satellite company called Reflect Orbital will attempt a similar miracle of illumination. Will it deliver too much of a good thing?
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission approved the startup’s plan to launch a small satellite that will unfold a 60-foot mirror designed to reflect sunlight down to the Earth’s surface at night. The company wants to show it can focus the sun’s rays on a precise three-mile-wide plot of land. If the test goes well, Reflect Orbital will start launching larger space mirrors, as many as 50,000 by 2035. It plans to charge clients—solar farms, sports venues, urban areas, even actual farms—roughly $5,000 per hour for the privilege of basking in the reflected midnight sun. A single satellite would provide roughly the brightness of a full moon, but customers could pay more to have multiple mirrors aim at the same spot. Reflect Orbital brags it will be able to boost illumination “from full moon to full noon.” The company says its core mission is to deliver “energy abundance,” allowing solar panels to work at night and replacing streetlights and other conventional lighting sources. It also stresses humanitarian applications, such as illuminating search-and-rescue operations.
In a sense, Reflect Orbital wants to do God one better. Where the Almighty was content to separate day from night, this bold venture promises to banish night altogether with the flip of a switch. It’ll offer customers sunlight as a service.
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
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James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a City Journal contributing editor.