{"id":553775,"date":"2026-07-17T03:42:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/553775\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T03:42:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T03:42:27","slug":"u-s-approval-of-giant-space-mirror-satellite-alarms-astronomers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/553775\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. approval of giant \u2018space mirror\u2019 satellite alarms astronomers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201cspace mirror\u201d test satellite meant to beam sunlight and turn night into day on targeted swaths of Earth just received approval to proceed\u2014and astronomers are aghast. The satellite, called E\u00e4rendil-1 and built by the California-based startup Reflect Orbital<\/a>, would be the first of some 50,000 similar spacecraft the company hopes to launch by 2035. Critics say such plans are wholly unacceptable because light pollution from so many large, bright satellites would radically degrade views of the night sky.<\/p>\n

E\u00e4rendil-1\u2019s formal approval to proceed came last week from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission<\/a> (FCC). That ruling addressed not only Reflect Orbital\u2019s proposal but also more than 1,800 public comments expressing concerns about the project\u2019s potential impact on the night sky and Earth\u2019s orbital environment. To these objections, the FCC had one response: that\u2019s not our problem.<\/p>\n

Reflect Orbital\u2019s sunny proposition is to provide \u201csunlight on demand\u201d for solar power plants, emergency search and rescue operations, and round-the-clock construction projects. Once launched, E\u00e4rendil-1 would deploy an 18-meter-wide steerable mirror to demonstrate that technological feat; anyone or anything in the path of its beam would see the satellite as a glaring dot shining up to four times brighter than a full moon.<\/p>\n

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The FCC\u2019s decision \u201creally scares me,\u201d says Samantha Lawler<\/a>, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, \u201cbecause it shows what gigantic holes there are in the regulatory framework for outer space and lets Reflect Orbital just sail on through one of those holes. I\u2019m really worried about the future of astronomy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawler and many other scientists are concerned about Reflect Orbital and E\u00e4rendil-1 for a few reasons. Whether for people, wildlife or astronomical observatories, the beam from this single test satellite is far from innocuous. Directly viewing it through a telescope, for example, could permanently damage eyes and sensors alike. And even outside the direct beam, the scattering of its photons through the atmosphere would create a still-bright smudge of light pollution in the surrounding night sky.<\/p>\n

The FCC\u2019s accompanying commentary<\/a> for its decision pointedly notes the approval only applies to E\u00e4rendil-1 and that it had to consider \u201cthe small risk\u201d of damage to individuals \u201cagainst the benefits of permitting American companies to test innovative technology in space\u201d via a single experimental satellite.<\/p>\n

But 50,000 satellites is a different story. Olivier Hainaut<\/a>, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory, recently conducted<\/a> a study on the potential light pollution from Reflect Orbital\u2019s plans, based on computer simulations of the satellites and their operations in space. The full complement of satellites, he found, could collectively make the global night sky three to four times brighter<\/a> than it is today, all around the world. Even the planet\u2019s darkest skies could become about as bright as the heavens above a suburban town, he says.<\/p>\n

For many animals, this brightening could disrupt circadian rhythms. For naked-eye stargazers, it could vastly limit what can be seen in the night sky. For astronomers, it could make much of their observational work effectively impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe astronomers are certainly not in favor of forbidding satellites,\u201d Hainaut says. \u201cAnd I would say that as citizens of planet Earth, it\u2019s really in the interest of everybody to take this into account before it happens, not to slow progress but just not to do anything stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hainaut\u2019s study also looked at the broader implications of the rising overall numbers of satellites, with more than 14,500 now active and orbiting our planet. More than 10,000<\/a> of those are members of SpaceX\u2019s Starlink megaconstellation for global broadband internet. And the surge is just beginning: proposals now exist for more than 1.7 million additional satellites, including Reflect Orbital\u2019s mirrors and SpaceX\u2019s space-based data centers<\/a>. These satellite constellations, he says, would dramatically change the night sky<\/a> and greatly increase risks<\/a> of spacecraft collision and debris.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Scattered sunlight from a 50,000-satellite fleet proposed by the company Reflect Orbital could greatly brighten the night sky. A study from the European Southern Observatory offers a current view of a patch of dark sky (left) compared to a predicted far brighter view were all of Reflect Orbital\u2019s planned satellites in operation (right).<\/p>\n

European Southern Observatory<\/p>\n

Because of its jurisdiction over use of the radiofrequency spectrum in the U.S., the FCC is responsible for the regulation of U.S. commercial satellites, which use that spectrum for communications. This also means, however, that the FCC controls access to U.S. markets for any foreign companies downlinking to U.S.-based ground stations or offering satellite-based services to U.S. customers. And, in coordination with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the FCC ensures that anything launching into space won\u2019t interfere with other radio transmissions to and from orbit. Simply put, for commercial satellite regulations, the FCC leads, and the rest of the world follows.<\/p>\n

Yet because most opposition to Reflect Orbital\u2019s E\u00e4rendil-1 concerns optical problems, the FCC declared in its approval commentary that such issues are \u201cbeyond the scope\u201d of its authority.<\/p>\n

This leaves astronomers and other worried onlookers wondering: Whose authority is it?<\/p>\n

The U.S. is a member of the United Nations\u2019 Outer Space Treaty<\/a>, which was created in 1967 to regulate and ensure peaceful activity in space. The treaty, among other things, names signing members responsible for the actions of spacecraft launched on their territory and says states must avoid \u201charmful contamination\u201d of space and celestial bodies. Some astronomers say Reflect Orbital\u2019s light pollution would qualify as such.<\/p>\n

Right now, the U.S. has no regulatory body other than the FCC that upholds the Outer Space Treaty before harm is done. And that\u2019s a big problem, Hainaut says, because for astronomers trying to catch rare or singular celestial events, regulatory penalties after the fact of lost observations are an insufficient remedy.<\/p>\n

He offers a hypothetical example to illustrate his point. \u201cIf we lose 30 percent of our observation time, and I say that\u2019s worth 30 million Euros for my telescope, the satellite operator might give us that 30 million\u2014but that\u2019s useless. The data are lost. We\u2019re not going to replace them,\u201d he says. \u201cSo we don\u2019t want to fix the problem; we want to avoid the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The American Astronomical Society (AAS), which published a petition in March for the FCC to deny Reflect Orbital\u2019s proposal, hopes to bring the issue to Congress, says Roohi Dalal<\/a>, the organization\u2019s deputy director for public policy. Preexisting Congressional organizations like the Office of Space Commerce or newly created regulatory bodies, she says, could handle the environmental and astronomical oversight of satellites.<\/p>\n

Some believe the FCC\u2019s controversial decision could spur corresponding pushback on an international level.<\/p>\n

Betty Kioko<\/a>, a space lawyer who serves as ESO\u2019s representative in the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), says many COPUOS members are increasingly concerned about the national regulation of satellite companies and the degree to which these companies should be responsible for publicly sharing specific information and data about their launches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to see a more concerted effort at an international level to try and address these challenges because there\u2019s going to be a bigger recognition on the impact of decisions of a single state on the international community,\u201d Kioko says.<\/p>\n

This May the national science academies of the G7 countries released a statement<\/a> recommending the creation of a governing body similar to the ITU but with a broader focus on regulating \u201ctraffic management, orbital carrying capacity, environmental and astronomical impact.\u201d The statement also calls for a new international treaty explicitly dealing with the positive and negative effects of satellite constellations.<\/p>\n

As for Reflect Orbital, the company\u2019s E\u00e4rendil-1 has for now sidestepped the concerns of its critics and could launch later this year. In a statement to Scientific American, a company spokesperson says that Reflect Orbital will provide data from the test mission to outside parties and is developing a coordination agreement with the U.S. National Science Foundation to reduce the impact of its satellites upon astronomical activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Reflect Orbital, we recognize that responsible deployment at scale requires clear rules. We welcome oversight and want to play an active role in shaping it,\u201d the spokesperson says. \u201cWe believe it is our responsibility to work alongside governments, scientists and regulators rather than ahead of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the vast numbers of other satellites awaiting approval, Dalal says that the AAS and its members are urging the FCC not to exclude astronomers from the regulatory process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn their order and authorization, the FCC talked about the public interest of fostering American technological innovation in space,\u201d Dalal says. \u201cI would just emphasize that scientific research and astronomical research has actually been at the forefront of American innovation and global leadership for decades. That innovation that they\u2019re looking to foster can\u2019t come at the cost of imperiling scientific research.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u201cspace mirror\u201d test satellite meant to beam sunlight and turn night into day on targeted swaths of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-553775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}