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US firm plans 50,000 mirror satellites to illuminate Earth's night side

Space expert questions solar energy benefit; questions orbital feasibility

TU Berlin space expert Enrico Stoll expresses skepticism about the project's central claim. Calculations show that even ignoring all losses, the solar output would be in the milliwatt range—negligible. Additional challenge: the satellite travels at 7 kilometers per second, making it extremely difficult to maintain focus on a five-kilometer target area. The crowded sun-synchronous orbit already hosting many Earth observation satellites makes deployment problematic.

Space expert questions solar energy benefit; questions orbital feasibility
tagesschau.de

“Wenn man das alles durchrechnet ohne irgendwelche Verluste, kommt man in den Milliwatt-Bereich”

Enrico Stoll

Reflect Orbital Company proposing mirror satellite constellationEnrico Stoll Space expert, TU BerlinAndreas Jechow Laser physicist, Technische Hochschule BrandenburgEuropean Southern Observatory (Garching) Research institutionSlovak Academy of Sciences Research institution

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