Posted on 07/12/2026 1:08:52 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A Southern California company just received approval to test a space mirror that would reflect sunlight to dark parts of planet Earth.
The Federal Communications Commission issued a license on Thursday to Reflect Orbital, an energy company based in Hawthorne. The license officially allows Reflect Orbital to launch its Earendil-1 satellite using frequencies in UHF, S-band and X-band for “telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) and data downlink to support deployment and testing of a solar reflector.”
Reflect Orbital will only be allowed to deploy one satellite at a time for now, the license states.
“Earendil-1 will use a deployable, highly specular thin-film reflector that is motorized and steerable to ensure reflected light is only visible in the targeted area to reflect sunlight to a designated target on the ground at night,” the FCC’s license says. “Earendil-1 is a single satellite and a limited, short-duration technology test exercise designed to evaluate the feasibility of Reflect Orbital’s proposed concept and to identify any challenges associated with future iterations of the technology. The results of this single-satellite mission will inform whether the concept is viable and will assist the company, its prospective customers, and other stakeholders in assessing any future larger scale deployment.”
According to the documents, several entities were against the license approval for a number of reasons, such as radio frequency interference and space debris mitigation. .... “a flood of opposition” came in from astronomers and wildlife experts, among others, who said that the light from the mirrors could “distract airplane pilots, wreak havoc on astronomical observations and interfere with circadian rhythms — the light-and-dark cycles that help people function, animals and plants know when to wake and sleep, to bloom or to migrate.”
But federal officials eventually sided with Reflect Orbital due to public interest and “promotion of American innovation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
In the COMING ICE AGE years of the 1970s there was a plan to mine coal, grind it to dust and spray it on the Ice Fields to increase absorption from the sun and stop THE COMING ICE AGE which never happened.
Then in 2000 there was a plan to place in Space a shield to block the sun’s rays and stop GLO-BULL Warming. It was never done.
Now a plan to divert the sun’s rays into darker areas of the Earth...
What new schemes and dreams will they come up with for the future!
I sincerely hope no tax money is being spent on this
I imagine increased light would be deleterious to the ecosystems. Not just because of heat, but the ecosystem is used to lower light levels. The plants will be effected.
Sounds like a mean Space Weapon - just light up the enemy.
Just fix LA you freaks.
Like the bottom of Challenger Deep? 🤷🏻♀️
Bad idea. The nerds will be the death of us yet.
What part of earth is dark? Or do they mean nighttime?
I thought I recognized it as a Tolkien-invented name. From Google AI:
“Eärendil the Mariner is a pivotal figure in Tolkien’s legendarium, a Half-elven mariner who sailed to the Undying Lands (Valinor) to plead for aid against the Dark Lord Morgoth, carrying the Silmaril jewel with his wife Elwing. His voyage convinced the Valar to intervene, leading to the defeat of Morgoth, and as a reward, he was set in the sky to carry the Silmaril as the Evening Star (Vingilot), a beacon of hope for Middle-earth. He is the father of Elrond and Elros, making him an ancestor to many key figures in later ages, including the kings of Númenor and Aragorn.”
You know.......hmmmmm....
“Y’all finna gestroy da Erf!” —Disney Greta Thunberg
We already have that here. We call it summer.
Let them waste their own money. This is a futile test. The miniscule amount of photons a space based reflector can bounce back to earth will not even compete with Cirius. We already have a bit satellite reflecting light back to earth, the moon.
Well this is a change.
Bill Gates wanted to put some sort of shade in space to dim the sun
How do you know, FRuddite?
NO! Stop F-ing with things.
Dark places?
Like Minnesota or NYC?
Oh, wow, man, "Dark Side Of The Earth" sounds like a great name for a rock album...
ANIMALS WILL NOT REACT NICELY TO THIS IDEA
THEY NEED THEIR DAY/NIGHT CYCLES
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