usatoday24
Suppose you acquire the power to cancel the night in a certain place in the world; of reflecting sunlight from space to illuminate something concrete, so that it is made from day in a given area. What would you use it?
Orbital reflect. A Californian startup wants to obtain this power to illuminate the photovoltaic panels in the hours close to dawn and sunset, when I miss its renewable energy, and when the energy companies could sell more.
Orbital reflect has just received 20 million dollars in financing, which will use to deploy a constellation of satellites equipped with gigantic mirrors. Its objective is to reflect sunlight towards Earth on demand.
The sun to the letter. The concept is simple: to increase the production of solar energy on the earth directing sunlight to the large photovoltaic plants of the soil before dawn and after sunset.
Like the space solar stations, but without the complications of concentrating the energy in a laser or microwave beam, placing large mirrors in orbit would significantly expand the light time that a solar farm receives to generate electricity, solving one of the great Peros of solar energy: its intermittency.
The company has already performed tests with a mirror in a hot air balloon at almost 3 km on a solar farm, generating 500 watts of energy per square meter of photovoltaic panel with approximately half of the brightness of the sun.
A first demonstration. The first orbital reflect mission is scheduled for the spring of 2026. A demonstration satellite will test a 18 x 18 meter mirror made with mylar plastic tensioning to form a solid reflective surface.
It is expected to reach a brightness of 0.1 lux, comparable to a full moon on a clear night. The mission aims to illuminate 10 iconic locations during the night to generate dissemination and public interest.
An ambitious goal. The initial idea contemplates a constellation of 57 small satellites in a synchronous polar orbit with the sun, about 600 kilometers of altitude. They would provide about 30 additional minutes of sunlight to photovoltaic plants.
In the long term, orbital reflects plans to launch a constellation of thousands of satellites with much larger reflectors, up to 55 x 55 meters. On this scale, the total luminosity of the constellation would be comparable to that of the sun at noon.
Other applications. Although the impulse to solar energy is the final objective, the company has plans to generate short and medium term income with other applications. Since its foundation in 2021, the company has received more than 260,000 applications from 157 countries for its sunlight delivery service.
Among future services, they offer the lighting of night construction projects, public events, disaster help efforts, and defense operations. “We want it to be as easy as possible: you enter a website, you tell us your GPS coordinates and we send you some sunlight after dusk,” explains the CEO of orbital reflect, Ben Nowack. Science fiction made reality.
Image | Orbital reflect
In Xataka | Space energy never worked. A military escalation in orbit is making it come true
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings