{"id":377638,"date":"2026-04-06T09:31:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:31:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377638\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T09:31:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T09:31:36","slug":"mirrors-in-space-could-disrupt-human-sleep-scientists-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/377638\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirrors in space could disrupt human sleep, scientists warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deploying mirrors in space<\/a> to create on-demand daylight could affect humans\u2019 sleep<\/a>, researchers say.<\/p>\n

Officials in the US are considering plans by Reflect Orbital, an aerospace start-up<\/a>, to illuminate parts of the Earth at night using reflective satellites, as well as from Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX<\/a> to put up to one million more satellites in Earth\u2019s low orbit.<\/p>\n

However, the presidents of four international scientific groups, representing about 2,500 researchers from more than 30 countries, are among those to write to the US government with concerns.<\/p>\n

The letter, written by the presidents of the European Biological Rhythms Society (EBRS), the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, the Japanese Society for Chronobiology and the Canadian Society for Chronobiology, said: \u201cThe proposed scale of orbital deployment would represent a significant alteration of the natural night-time light environment at a planetary scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experts warned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates satellites and space policy, that altering the natural rhythm of light and dark could have untold consequences on biological clocks that regulate sleep, and hormone secretion in humans and animals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They also warned that it could impact migration of nocturnal species, seasonal cycles in plants and the rhythms of marine phytoplankton that underpin ocean food webs.<\/p>\n

They urged the FCC and other regulators to conduct a full environmental review and set limits on satellite reflectivity and cumulative night sky brightness.<\/p>\n

Prof Charalambos Kyriacou, a geneticist at the University of Leicester and president of the EBRS, told The Guardian: \u201cWe\u2019re saying, please think before you go through with this, because this could have global implications for things like food security<\/a>. Plants need the night. You can\u2019t just get rid of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposals by Reflect Orbital involve using satellites equipped with large mirrors to redirect sunlight back on to Earth \u201con demand\u201d.<\/p>\n

The idea would be to light up an area of five to six kilometres to boost solar energy production, provide lighting for construction projects, disaster responses and agriculture, the company says. The brightness would be adjustable \u201cfrom full moon to full noon\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ruskin Hartley, the head of DarkSky International, a non-profit focused on protecting natural night skies<\/a>, which has also written to the FCC, told The Guardian: \u201cWhile ideas like mirrors on satellites beaming \u2018sunlight on demand\u2019 to Earth or mega-constellations of up to one million satellites for AI data centres may sound like science fiction, these proposals are very real.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cScientific studies have already shown that the existing number of satellites in orbit has increased diffuse night sky brightness, or sky glow, by roughly 10 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say the number of satellites and debris in the atmosphere are to blame, and that it will only get worse if current satellite launch rates continue.<\/p>\n

SpaceX wants to launch up to 1 million satellites to create a solar-powered computing network designed to run artificial intelligence<\/a> workloads.<\/p>\n

\"Elon<\/p>\n

Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX wants to launch a million satellites to create an AI network in space – Denis Balibouse\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Mr Hartley said it could lead to a night sky where satellites outnumbered visible stars.<\/p>\n

He also warned that plans to introduce mirrors risked the \u201cpossibility of intense glare or blinding flashes, particularly if systems malfunction or drift off target\u201d.<\/p>\n

A separate letter from the presidents of the World Sleep Society, European Sleep Research Society, Sleep Health Foundation, Australian Sleep Association and Australasian Chronobiology Society said that circadian disruption \u201cis not mere inconvenience; it is a physiological mechanism driving major adverse health consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not argue against space innovation,\u201d the letter said. \u201cThe alternation of light and dark is not a trivial background condition. It is one of the oldest organising principles of life on Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deploying mirrors in space to create on-demand daylight could affect humans\u2019 sleep, researchers say. Officials in the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[180996,180997,180994,76212,85,46,180995,24082,180998,51070,141],"class_list":{"0":"post-377638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-biological-rhythms","9":"tag-constellation-of-satellites","10":"tag-european-biological-rhythms-society","11":"tag-federal-communications-commission","12":"tag-il","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-night-skies","15":"tag-night-sky","16":"tag-parts-of-the-earth","17":"tag-reflect-orbital","18":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}