Orbital Light Pollution Plan: “The mission name comes from a character from Lord of the Rings”
What could possibly go wrong? Because we’ve had such good times from tycoons naming shit after stuff from Lord of the Rings, right?
Universe Today - FCC Approves First Launch for Space Reflector Constellation By David Dickinson - July 17, 2026 11:31 AM UTC | Space Policy Reflect Orbital’s plan is to use on-demand solar for everything from extending working hours to disaster relief and agriculture. Read between the lines, and the U.S. Department of Defense could also potentially be a prime consumer of this technology. Certainly, the ability to generate and sell solar power at peak times has a lucrative appeal to the company. Of course, the push back on the plan extends beyond the astronomical community. Reflect Orbital states that the plan for Eärendil-1 is to show the ability to project the brightness of a Full Moon at magnitude -12.6 magnitude over a 3-mile wide area. But all that brightness would be concentrated in a pinpoint source, rather than a half and degree-wide Moon. Also, the goal of generating solar power from such a source suggests that Reflect Orbital has a much brighter goal in mind. The night sky has been under siege over the past decade, as SpaceX’s Starlink, China’s rival Qianfan ‘Thousand Sails’ mega constellation and AST Space Mobile’s Bluewalker and Bluebird satellites have all taken to the night skies. These were all incidental reflectors, photo-bombing the twilight sky view. What Reflect Orbital envisions seems more like it’s in direct conflict with the nighttime sky.
My letter to reps:
I don’t want this Reflect Orbital solar laser at the earth making bright light at night stuff. I don’t want it because it sounds unhealthy, unnatural, disruptive to nature, disruptive to not just astronomy but having a night sky. And what to have someone make a few extra bucks and extend some work hours. We don’t need this. It’s not natural. It’s possibly disastrous either by making humans ill or Kessler Syndrome which is a very real catastrophe in the waiting. They need to be stopped.
Please feel free to copy or repurpose for your own letters to reps.
Here’s what I wrote at the time I wrote a public comment against this project during the FCC’s public comment period.
Dark skies vs space junk. Chloe Humbert Mar 05, 2026 Space debris and low earth orbit clutter is already a public safety threat, and a threat to all the industries that use low earth orbit satellites. The night sky is precious, and an essential part of our interaction with the world as humanity throughout history, with science, culture, and entertainment. Nighttime illumination and light pollution is a known physical health threat for humans, and proposing prolific amounts more of reflective satellites are a step in the wrong direction for public health reasons. Astronomers, both professional scientists and amateur skywatchers provide valuable information to science, and the natural beauty of the night sky as well as astrophotography is deeply well regarded across all walks of life in our societies around the world. We simply don’t need these prolific satellites, as a society, as a civilization, they’re just not necessary. And they could be catastrophic.