Startup plans to sell sunlight by sending 50,000 mirrors into space

Scientists have unveiled a controversial plan to sell sunlight on demand by sending 50,000 mirrors into space.

A California-based startup, Reflect Orbital is already in the process to secure permission to send a 60-foot prototype mirror into orbit by this summer.

The mirror will beam sunlight back to Earth and illuminate an area about three miles (4.8 km) wide.

The company behind the project aims to deliver sunlight to several locations, including:

• Solar power plants, allowing them to operate 24 hours a day;
• Disaster-struck regions, allowing rescue operations to continue throughout the day.

It even aims to replace streetlights. Reflect Orbital has already applied for a license from the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the government agency responsible for issuing licences for satellites.

The company has also raised more than $28 million from investors. It plans to expand the number of mirrors to 5,000 by 2030 and 50,000 by 2035.

In an interview with the New York Times, Reflect Orbital’s CEO Ben Nowack said, “We are trying to build something that could replace fossil fuels and really power everything.”

However, the ambitious project has also raised concerns about its implications.

A neurobiologist at Northwestern University and co-director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology, Martha Hotz Vitaterna, said: “The implications for wildlife, for all life, are enormous.”

The idea is not new, as a Russian satellite dubbed Znamya unfurled a 65-foot mirror and reflected sunlight back to Earth producing light comparable to two or three full moons in 1993.