I may have just hit the point where I say, "don't launch that"

It's a first. Someone wants to do a wide-impact study in space and I may have just hit the first time I've ever wanted to say, "I don't think that's a good idea." Maybe one test flight, one experiment, but I'm not ready to say "sounds great! Go for it!" Neither am I ready to go sign up to protest their launches. 

The story appeared in several places today such as SpaceWeather.com that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had recently granted approval to a startup company to orbit a test mirror that's intended to reflect sunlight to parts of the world that going through their night. 

Last week, the FCC authorized Reflect Orbital Inc. to launch a huge space mirror named “Eärendil-1.” From an orbit about 625 km high, it will cast a moving, 5-km-wide patch of light onto the Earth about as bright as a full Moon. Later, the company could combine beams from multiple satellites to create much brighter spotlights. Reflect Orbital wants to launch 50,000 more by 2035, selling sunlight-on-demand to solar farms, construction sites and search-and-rescue teams. 

In case you missed it, astronomers - both hobbyists and professionals - have been complaining about not being able to take time exposures without catching reflections from satellites pretty much since SpaceX started launching Starlinks. Those complaints have been blamed on them, but Starlink satellites aren't the same size as that 50,000 mirror constellation that Reflect Orbital is talking about doing (Orbital Radar says there aren't even 10,000 Starlink satellites in use today - there are 9,532) - and neither are the Starlink satellites as big as those mirrors that Reflect Orbital is proposing. 

An artist's concept of sunlight beamed down from orbit. Bats, fireflies, and other creatures of the night could find their darkness interrupted by roving spots of artificial sunlight. Image credit: SpaceWeather.com

If Reflect Orbital's plan is realized, it could be calamitous not only for astronomy but also for the natural world as a whole. Nocturnal animals and night-blooming plants, tuned by evolution to the rhythm of day and night, would suddenly find their darkness interrupted by moving pools of redirected sunlight. Small favors? Reflect Orbital says the light will not be bright enough to start fires.

The FCC acknowledged that there are concerns about this but replied with a limp, "... optical astronomy and the environment lie largely outside their jurisdiction. They can only regulate the project's use of radio signals." Apparently, no US agency regulates how bright a satellite may shine. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is known for ruling with intelligence and accuracy about as often as "pigs will fly and the Earth will fry" to borrow a line (Snookeroo), so I'd hate to get them involved. 

One of the odd aspects to this is the fact that they're reflecting sunlight down. I'd be less concerned about lasers because they're monochromatic, and I'd be rather surprised if as many "nocturnal animals and night-blooming plants" reacted to a monochromatic laser as would react to reflected sunlight.