Scientists Are Pushing Back Against 'Blinding' Space Tech Recently Tested In California

Residents of Lone Pine, California, noticed a pair of mysterious blinding lights coming from nearby Mount Whitney one night in early October. It looked like a scene from one of those iconic alien invasion movies, but it was actually an experiment conducted by a local California tech startup. The company is Reflect Orbital, a group that dreams of putting giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight to Earth at night. Reflect Orbital says this technology could extend solar generation hours, boost agricultural yields, and aid nighttime search-and-rescue operations.

However, scientists have pushed back against proposals to deploy reflective mirrors in low Earth orbit for several months. Presidents of four international scientific societies representing researchers from more than 30 countries wrote a collaborative letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to raise awareness of the potential harm that this initiative could cause (via BioClocks UK).

The downsides are fairly obvious when you understand how space mirrors actually work. They create powerful artificial light at night (ALAN) that the scientific community recognizes as a form of environmental pollution. By closely mimicking direct sunlight for extended hours, ALAN can negatively affect human circadian regulation, wildlife migration, and plant rhythmicity. There are few regulations in place to protect us from these kinds of detrimental effects.

SpaceX plans to launch up to one million satellites into low Earth orbit, and Reflect Orbital would like to equip some of them with mirrors that could create areas of redirected sunlight at night, extending nearly four miles wide. As stated in the letter to the FCC, "The proposed scale of orbital deployment would represent a significant alteration of the natural night-time light environment at a planetary scale." Nobody fully understands what this will do to life on Earth, not to mention the amount of space debris it will create, which is why we certainly aren't ready to turn night into day just yet.

This isn't the only type of solar geoengineering that's been in discussion recently, either. People have talked about blocking the sun to help counteract global warming, but reports warn that this could increase the likelihood of droughts or hurricanes in parts of the world. Blocking the sun, redirecting the sun, and using drones to change weather for solar farms — these are all acts of environmental control that are within our power now, but none of them are guaranteed to be safe.