Sunlight at night? Startup plans to sell light on Earth after dark for Rs 4.6 lakh an hour. Here's how

Reflect Orbital’s first prototype is expected to be roughly the size of a small refrigerator.

A California-based startup is seeking approval to test a space-based system designed to reflect sunlight onto Earth after dark, with plans that could eventually involve tens of thousands of satellites.

The company, Reflect Orbital, headquartered in Hawthorne, has applied to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to launch an initial prototype. If cleared, the test satellite could be deployed as early as this year.

The concept centres on placing large reflective surfaces in orbit that would redirect sunlight to selected areas on the ground, potentially extending daylight conditions for specific uses.

Reflect Orbital’s first prototype is expected to be roughly the size of a small refrigerator. Once in orbit, at an altitude of about 400 miles, it would deploy a mirror spanning approximately 60 feet. The reflected light would illuminate an area around three miles wide. Observers on the ground would see the satellite as a bright point in the sky, comparable in intensity to a full moon.

Ben Nowack, the company’s chief executive, said the ambition is to develop a system that could reduce dependence on conventional energy sources.

“We’re trying to build something that could replace fossil fuels and really power everything,” he said. He added that the company has secured more than $28 million in funding to date.

The business model includes charging clients for access to reflected light. According to reports, the company intends to price the service at about $5,000 per hour (approximately Rs 4.6 lakh) per mirror for customers committing to long-term contracts of at least 1,000 hours annually.

Uses could include emergency response, temporary lighting for events, and extending operating hours for solar power installations. For solar farms, the company has suggested a revenue-sharing approach linked to additional electricity generation.

If the initial trial proves viable, two further prototypes may follow within a year. Longer-term plans are significantly larger in scale. Reflect Orbital aims to have 1,000 satellites in orbit by the end of 2028 and around 5,000 by 2030. The largest mirrors under development could measure close to 180 feet across and are intended to reflect light equivalent to as many as 100 full moons. The company’s stated goal is to eventually deploy a constellation of up to 50,000 satellites.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jenisha Shah (@jenisha_19)

The idea of using mirrors in space is not new. Similar concepts have been proposed over decades, including experiments in the 1990s when a Russian satellite briefly redirected sunlight towards Earth.

However, the proposal has prompted concern from scientists and researchers, particularly regarding its broader impact.

Roohi Dalal, an astronomer and policy director at the American Astronomical Society, said there is currently no established regulatory framework for projects of this nature.

“We just don’t have a regulatory process for these types of novel space activities yet,” she said.

Critics argue that large-scale reflective satellites could interfere with astronomical observations, disrupt aviation, and alter natural biological cycles. Artificial light at unusual times may affect circadian rhythms, which regulate sleep and activity patterns across humans, animals and plants.

Martha Hotz Vitaterna, a neurobiology researcher at Northwestern University, warned of potential ecological consequences if natural light cycles are disturbed.

“The implications for wildlife, for all life, are enormous,” she said, noting that animals could breed at inappropriate times or migration patterns could be affected. She also pointed to risks such as plants flowering when pollinators are not active.

Astronomers have also expressed concern about the growing number of satellites already visible in the night sky. Existing constellations, including thousands of communication satellites, have been criticised for leaving bright streaks in telescope images. Reflective systems designed specifically to maximise brightness could intensify those challenges.

Michael Brown, an astronomer at Monash University, questioned the efficiency of the concept from an energy perspective. His analysis suggests that the amount of sunlight reaching a given area from a single satellite would be extremely limited compared with natural daylight.

He wrote in comments submitted to the FCC that even with very large mirrors, thousands of satellites would be required to achieve a fraction of midday sunlight at a single location.

“I think his idea keeps coming up because it has a certain simplicity and elegance,” he said. “But when you start crunching the numbers… then you find there’s a lot of serious issues with it.”

Nowack said the company has modelled these effects and believes they are manageable, adding that real-world testing will provide clearer answers.

“We plan to show exactly what’s happening with real measurements in the real world from our actual satellite,” he said. “That’s going to help a ton. You can’t fake that.”

Regulatory review of the proposal will focus primarily on technical considerations such as communication interference and safe disposal of satellites at the end of their operational life. Broader environmental and ecological concerns are not typically central to the FCC’s approval process.

Separately, interest in large-scale climate intervention techniques continues to grow. In the United Kingdom, the Advanced Research and Invention Agency has backed experimental projects aimed at reducing global temperatures, including methods that reflect sunlight away from Earth. These approaches remain highly debated due to potential unintended consequences.