Jul 18, 2026
Since our earliest ancestors turned their gazes toward the night sky, humans have marveled at ancient constellations, shooting stars, heavenly lights and galactic wonders laid bare. But now there’s a battle brewing over who controls the sky — and if they might literally alter it forever.
Earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission granted California space tech company Reflect Orbital permission to launch a low-orbit satellite to test reflecting sunlight toward solar panels at night — or what the BBC dubbed “sunlight on demand.” If successful, the idea is to launch 50,000 satellites in the next decade to power solar panels after the sun goes down.
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The company told Moneywise that the approval “follows extraordinary global demand” for their services, especially for help with search-and-rescue efforts following the recent Venezuela earthquake. They also said the satellites could be used for boosting agriculture production and providing cities with “safer, evenly lit streets.”
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But Reflect Orbital faces staunch opposition from many in the scientific community — including astronomers and scientists who told Moneywise that the satellites could cause harm to life on Earth, pollute the night sky and pose, as Dr. Travis Longcore, co-chair of UCLA’s Environmental Science and Engineering Program, contended, “an existential threat to optical astronomy.”
There’s also the central question put forward by Dr. Noelia E. D. Noël, a senior astrophysics lecturer at the University of Surrey: Who gets to decide where and when to illuminate the night?
“The night sky is a shared scientific, environmental and cultural resource,” she added. “It is not simply empty space awaiting commercial use.”
Why scientists fear a brighter future could come at a darker cost
Reflect Orbital, dubbed “The Sunlight Company,” was founded in 2021 with an aim “to make clean, abundant energy available on demand.”
Its test satellite, Eärendil-1, carries an 18-meter reflector that Wired reported could illuminate, like a giant mirror, areas five to six kilometers across for brief periods from 625 kilometers above Earth. Reflect Orbital would charge about $5,000 per hour for the sunlight service.
“Our first milestone is this single demonstration satellite,” the company said, adding it will test the technology and safeguards while gathering data for future missions.
Dr. John Barentine — co-founder and president of the Center for Space Environmentalism — is among those who believe that the premise of the satellites powering solar panels is flawed.
He said that he and his colleagues calculated that one satellite would deliver an irradiance of about 0.004 watts per square meter at Earth’s surface — far below the roughly 200 watts per square meter needed to generate useful electricity.
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“That implies you’d need many thousands of these satellites all directing their beams toward the same target simultaneously to produce any sort of meaningful power.”
Scientists also warn of broader impacts. Dr. Olivier Hainaut of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said a single prototype satellite could be studied, but “a constellation would indeed constitute a major problem for optical astronomy.”
“We could see hundreds of objects as bright as Venus moving across the sky at any one time,” Dr. Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, added. “That will effectively destroy our view of the stars.”
Dr. Longcore, meanwhile, warned of the “catastrophic disruption of necessary daily and seasonal patterns of light and dark” that have governed life on Earth for billions of years.
Many of the experts also questioned the wider environmental impact, from space debris left in the Earth’s atmosphere to how the carbon footprint and energy expended to launch thousands of satellites would be offset by reflecting extra light to solar panels.
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Still others pointed to human risks, including “distractions or worse for drivers and pilots,” University of British Columbia astronomy professor Dr. Aaron Boley said.
And Dr. Samantha Lawler, an associate astronomy professor at the University of Regina, expressed concern that amateur stargazers could risk eye damage from the reflected light through telescopes, while questioning the effectiveness of the satellites for uses like search-and-rescue missions.
“They can only point at one location for 4 minutes or less, and the source of the light would be moving at all times, so shadows would be continuously swinging across the ground,” she added. “It seems like a better way to make your … first responders motion sick than help them see.”
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The FCC says the test is worth the risk, but scientists aren’t convinced
Reflect Orbital, for its part, told Moneywise that they’ve “engaged in substantive discussions” with scientists and environmental researchers and welcome oversight. They added that they can control where the light from their satellites shines and “intend to avoid service over exclusion zones that cover endangered species, as defined by applicable regulations.”
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And while 1,800 public commenters joined multiple scientific organizations in opposing the Reflect Orbital’s FCC approval, the FCC simply claimed that “Earendil-1’s impacts on optical astronomy fall outside our review.”
They also said that the risks “are outweighed by the public interest benefits” of testing the satellites and that objections largely pertained to “a larger constellation” rather than the single approved satellite. They added that this decision “does not predetermine” approval for the future launch of multiple satellites.
The FCC did not reply to Moneywise’s request for comment.
Beatrice Kioko, the ESO’s institutional affairs officer, expressed hope that Reflect Orbital will work with the astronomical community to share data and measure the impacts of their satellites — which she noted could, in the thousands, “fundamentally change” the night sky.
“In addition to the impact that this will have on optical astronomy,” she added, “the general public should worry about the possibility of a world that does not go dark when it is night.”
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Mike Crisolago is a Sr. Staff Reporter at Moneywise with nearly 20 years of experience working as a journalist, editor, content strategist and podcast host. He specializes in personal finance writing related to the 50-plus demographic and retirement, as well as politics and lifestyle content.
