In 2025, the American company Reflect Orbital will provide people with one of the most unusual services in the history of mankind. It wants to send a group of space satellites with mirrors to reflect sunlight into Earth's orbit. They will create beams of light that can be directed to any point on Earth. Very rich people will be able to literally order a “sunny day” for themselves. This technology will also be useful in emergency situations when, for some reason, people lose electricity. And, of course, thanks to American satellites, it will be possible to power solar power plants – they will be able to generate energy even at night. It sounds like something fantastic and new. But, attention: such technology has already been developed in Russia as part of the Znamya project.
An American company can make the sun shine even during the day
Only the lazy are not talking about the grandiose plans of the Reflect Orbital company. But the authors of Space.com managed to collect the most details – they even learned details about the sizes of space satellites with mirrors.
Contents
- 1 Satellites for reflecting sunlight
- 2 Light pollution in space
- 3 Space experiment “Znamya”
- 4 The future of solar energy
Satellites to Reflect Sunlight
Reflect Orbital plans to launch 57 small satellites weighing about 16 kilograms into space. Each of them will be equipped with mirrors measuring 9.9 by 9.9 meters. It sounds like something huge, but for spacecraft this is the norm. At the time of launch, they will be assembled, and will only open in space.
The mirrors that reflect sunlight will be made of Mylar, a foil-like material that is actually made of plastic. It is often used to insulate parts of spacecraft. The mirrors will be designed to concentrate sunlight into a tight beam and direct it to any area on the Earth's surface.
Unfortunately, the cost of the Reflect Orbital service is still unknown
According to Reflect Orbital founder Ben Novak, they want to make it as easy as possible to order their service for lighting areas of the Earth. For example, so that a person could go to an app or website, pay money and specify the GPS coordinates where the sunlight should fall.
The official Reflect Orbital website says that the technology will be launched closer to the end of 2025. The cost of the service, unfortunately, is unknown.
Light Pollution in Space
The satellites with mirrors will be at an altitude of about 600 kilometers and will move in a sun-synchronous orbit. They will fly over every point on Earth at the same time of day, making two passes in 24 hours.
Many people are concerned that there are too many satellites in near-Earth orbit. Just remember Elon Musk's Starlink project – the entrepreneur said he would launch 12,000 satellites into space, and he was heavily criticized for this. The fact is that satellites, especially those with mirrors, scatter light and prevent astronomers from observing the starry sky.
Starlink satellites in the sky. Source: space.com
But representatives of Reflect Orbital assure that their devices will not increase light pollution. According to them, at a distance of 10 kilometers from the place illuminated by satellites, people will not see any light in the sky. And if they look towards the illuminated place, then at most they will see a glow, as if there is construction or a concert there.
Unfortunately, there is also a lot of garbage in near-Earth orbit. Sometimes it falls on residential buildings!
Space experiment “Banner”
Some people consider the news about the possibility of such technology to be fake. But in 2023, the company tested its functionality by equipping a balloon with mirrors and lifting it to a height of 3 kilometers.
In addition, Russian scientists tested this technology in the 1990s. Then the Znamya project was launched, consisting of a series of experiments with space mirrors that redirect sunlight to different parts of the Earth.
Nothing interesting happened at the Znamya-1 stage, it was a ground test sample.
Russian satellite Znamya-2. Photo source: wikipedia.org
As part of the Znamya-2 experiment, scientists assembled a 20-meter-wide solar sail. It was launched into space on October 27, 1992, and attached to the Progress spacecraft. After deploying the sail, the spacecraft was able to reflect sunlight and create a bright spot on the Earth's surface 8 kilometers wide. It flew across Europe from southern France to Western Russia at a speed of 8 kilometers per second.
The Znamya 2.5 experiment was planned as an even larger experiment. Scientists created a mirror with a diameter of 25 meters and wanted to create a spot on Earth with a diameter of 7 kilometers, which could be controlled and concentrated in one place. The canvas was launched into space, but the experiment failed due to an error.
The essence of the Znamya 3 project was to deploy a mirror with a diameter of about 70 meters. However, it was never launched, and the entire project was completely closed.
Read also: Russia and China to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon
The Future of Solar Energy
It may seem like Reflect Orbital's service is just a fun thing for the rich. But the company's representatives believe that their satellites can increase the efficiency of solar power plants many times over.
Solar energy is becoming cheaper. Photo source: kommersant.ru
What do you think about the new technology? Do you believe in it? Share your opinion in the comments of our Zen channel!
Over the past 15 years, the cost of solar panels has decreased by 90%, and their efficiency has increased significantly. Thanks to this, today solar energy is the cheapest form of electricity that has ever been available to mankind. So if solar stations can work at night, energy will become even more accessible and cleaner.