A startup called Reflect Orbital announced on Apr. 17 plans to launch satellites that would redirect sunlight onto the night side of Earth, creating patches of artificial light up to about 3.7 miles wide.
The proposal has raised concerns among scientists and environmental groups who warn it could have significant consequences for people, animals, and ecosystems by altering natural patterns of darkness.
Reflect Orbital says its technology could provide benefits such as nighttime solar energy production, increased agricultural yields, and safer construction sites by offering light levels ranging from full moon brightness to daylight. However, experts caution that these advantages may come at a high cost. “The proposed scale of orbital deployment would represent a significant alteration of the natural night-time light environment at a planetary scale,” wrote the presidents of four international scientific societies in an open letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The FCC is currently considering whether to regulate Reflect Orbital’s activities along with similar projects from other companies like SpaceX, which has proposed launching up to one million satellites for an artificial intelligence data center.
Ruskin Hartley, CEO and executive director of DarkSky International, said satellites have already increased the brightness of Earth’s night sky by about 10 percent. Tami Martino, president of the Canadian Society for Chronobiology, said “Circadian systems are sensitive to light levels far below what humans typically perceive as bright.” Scientists say disrupting natural day-night cycles can interfere with sleep patterns in humans and animals as well as migration and growth processes in plants.
Hartley said “DarkSky is calling for a full environmental review before proposals like this move forward.” The debate continues as regulators consider how best to balance technological innovation with environmental protection.
