By now, most of you probably have heard of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to allow the company Reflect Orbital, Inc., to launch a giant mirror named Earendil-1 about 390 miles above us. It will then cast a 3-mile-wide patch of light onto Earth about as bright as our Full Moon. This “experimental” mirror is to be the first of what could be 50,000 within the next decade, in order for the company to sell “sunlight-on-demand” to such organizations as solar farms, construction sites, and even search-and-rescue operations.
The FCC acknowledged that certain raised concerns, e.g., astronomy, nocturnal animals, night-blooming plants, could be affected by this, but simply stated these are mainly outside its jurisdiction. They are only responsible for regulating a company’s use of radio signals.
The Commission has already received close to 2,000 public comments concerning this, including thousands of signatures from DarkSky. Even so, the satellite launch is scheduled to take place before the end of this year.
As sky watchers, we thought the launches of SpaceX’s thousands of Starlink satellites was a concern. This project will totally overpower any of Musk’s handiwork. We must keep aware of this company’s continuing work, not only for our potential loss of the night sky, but also for the many other inhabitants of our planet, both plant and animal, that will be greatly affected.
