Startup wants to sell sunlight at night — using mirrors on satellites
- Mirrors attached to satellites to orbit Earth, reflect light down
- CEO: Could give solar power plants 30 more minutes of light
- Reflect Orbital plans to launch delivery in Q4 2025
FILE – Sunlight filters through storm clouds onto a wind turbine as severe weather rolls through the midwest on April 4, 2023, south of Stuart, Iowa. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a nearly $11 billion investment on Tuesday, May 16, to help bring affordable clean energy to rural communities throughout the country. (Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald via AP, File)
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(NewsNation) — A California-based startup is looking to provide solar power long after the sun has set, one mirror-mounted satellite at a time.
Reflect Orbital wants to use large, maneuverable mirrors attached to satellites reflect sunlight down on to Earth, no matter the time of day. Their contraption — a prototype is in the works, and hot-air balloon trials have been conducted — would keep solar power production going 24/7.
According to Space.com, the startup’s 57 small satellites would sun-synchronously orbit the Earth at an altitude of 370 miles. With satellites circling the planet from pole to pole as the Earth rotates beneath, the craft would make two orbits each day.
Ben Nowack, founder and CEO of Reflect Orbital, presented that plan at this year’s International Conference on Energy from Space in London, predicting his satellites would give around 30 more minutes of sunlight to power plants when they need it most.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, the price of Solar PV modules has dropped by 90% since 2009, while their effectiveness has increased.
“Why doesn’t solar provide most of our energy? It’s a pretty simple answer: Around any given location, the sun stops shining on solar farms for a huge chunk of the day, just like a generator running out of gas. If sunlight were present 24/7, solar energy would dominate. This dominance would unlock low-cost, global scale clean energy,” Nowack said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
There are plenty of questions needing answered — will it disrupt wildlife, add to light pollution or almost immediately fall back to Earth, like Russia’s Znamya 2 mission? It’s unknown, but interest is growing rapidly.
Reflect Orbital plans to launch light delivery in Q4 2025, with applications for contracted sunlight open through October 2024. As of Aug. 25, 2024, Nowack said more than 31,000 people had already applied.
