A company called Reflect Orbital thinks it can fix a basic problem: when the sun has set, we lose sunlight. The California-based startup wants to change that — by using satellite mirrors to literally bounce sunlight back to Earth at night. Yes, sunlight at night. Think of it like space-based lighting-as-a-service.
Reflect Orbital isn’t just promising some vague “green tech” breakthrough. It wants to sell sunlight after dark — for real. The company’s pitch? A constellation of satellites equipped with massive mirrors in space that redirect the sun’s light onto solar farms after dark, or even onto entire cities. In theory, you’d be able to buy light from the sky, even when the sun has set.
How Reflect Orbital Is Selling Sunlight From The Sky
At the core of Reflect Orbital’s vision is a surprisingly simple idea: bounce sunlight using a reflector mounted on a satellite. The company plans to launch a fleet — a constellation of satellites in Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) — that always face the sun and can beam that sunlight down to Earth at twilight or nighttime.
Each satellite will carry a 33-foot Mylar mirror designed to reflect sunlight to a targeted area. That might mean a solar farm at night, or even a remote region with limited grid access. The goal is to provide sunlight in places and times where it doesn’t usually exist — like early evenings, power outages, or crisis zones. In the near future, Reflect Orbital claims, we might be able to summon a beam of light by moving your finger around a virtual app.
If this sounds like something out of science fiction, it’s because it kind of is. But Reflect Orbital’s founders — CEO Ben Nowack and CTO Tristan Semmelhack — are already testing the hardware. A hot air balloon demonstration successfully bounced sunlight from the stratosphere onto a test panel on Earth. Now they’re prepping for their first orbital launch in 2025.
A Bold Bet Providing Sunlight With Mirrors In Space
It’s not the first time someone’s tried to shine light from orbit. In the 1990s, Russia’s Znamya project deployed massive reflective sails to illuminate Earth — briefly, and not very successfully. That experiment proved the idea could work in practice, but didn’t stick the landing. Reflect Orbital thinks the tech has finally caught up.
Nowack, a former SpaceX intern, unveiled the concept at an international conference on energy from space. The company’s stated goal is to “fix sunlight,” and their mirrors are just one part of it. They’re designing them to precisely reflect sunlight onto infrastructure like solar panels, improving the efficiency and uptime of solar energy systems — even when it’s dark.
“There’s something magical about the moment when the sky lights up, even after sunset,” Nowack said. And yeah, that’s the vibe Reflect Orbital is going for.
Boost Solar Energy — Not Just Lighting
This isn’t just about lighting cities like sci-fi skylines. The company is aiming to boost solar infrastructure in real terms. By reflecting sunlight directly onto solar arrays during peak demand — say, right after dusk — the satellites could help fill energy gaps and reduce reliance on batteries or fossil backups.
That extra burst of power could help thousands of solar farms generate more electricity with the same footprint. Reflect Orbital is targeting areas like California, Spain, and parts of Asia with dense solar farm infrastructure.
Their plan: sell sunlight to thousands of clients through subscription-style pricing — not unlike how cloud storage or data services are sold today. It’s a futuristic twist on commoditizing sunlight, and a potential edge in markets with volatile electricity prices.
What’s Actually Possible?
Here’s what we know so far. Reflect Orbital plans to launch its first satellite in 2025, with a few more to follow if the demo works. Each one will provide about 30 minutes of directed sunlight per day, and cover a zone about 3–5 kilometers in diameter. Not enough to turn night into day, but potentially enough to shine on critical areas like a mobile solar farm or backup array.
Their first tests used a mirror mounted to a balloon, hovering at 242 meters. That setup delivered around 500 watts per square meter to the ground — roughly half the strength of direct sun. The challenge now is scaling that up from a few hundred meters to several hundred kilometers.
There are big technical questions: How precisely can these mirrors aim? Will the light shining from orbit be strong enough to justify the effort? What happens when satellites cross over residential zones — are we cool with lighting up Earth at night?
And yet, there’s momentum. Lower launch costs and better orbital positioning mean Reflect Orbital might pull this off — even if only for niche cases at first.
Who Pays For A Ray Of Sunlight After Dark?
The economics aren’t just speculative. Reflect Orbital projects each satellite could bring in $175,000 per year in revenue, with costs as low as $130,000 per unit (thanks to reusable launch systems and off-the-shelf parts). That kind of return makes investors perk up, especially with pressure to scale renewable generation and modernize electricity systems.
The company is already pitching its service as a plug-and-play enhancement for solar developers. Want more power? Don’t build a new solar power plant — just buy a beam. As wild as that sounds, the gadget-like pricing model could actually appeal to power providers looking for flexible capacity boosts.
In theory, the satellites could help customers optimize energy production, improve power generation efficiency, and cut costs — all without expanding physical infrastructure.
Reflected Light, Real Consequences
Still, not everyone is on board with the idea of lighting up the sky. Astronomers have raised concerns about how bright satellites like these might affect telescopes and dark-sky preservation efforts. Reflect Orbital says it’s aware of the concerns and will coordinate with global observatories to minimize the impact.
But the company is also betting on public fascination. Their site literally splits into two parts: one for solar developers, and one for the public, featuring demo videos, interactive lighting requests, and dreamy renderings of a standing-on-is-illuminated Earth.
This blend of utility and spectacle may be what sells the idea. In the near future, it might not be weird to see a gentle beam of reflected light arc across the night — and know someone, somewhere, is paying for it.
The Future Of Light Might Come From Space — And It Could Change More Than Just Energy
Reflect Orbital’s vision isn’t just about bouncing sunlight onto solar panels. It’s about reimagining what it means to control light itself. From mirrors on a hot-air balloon to orbital reflectors that might soon send sunlight onto solar farms after dark, the company has tested its mirrors and is now aiming sky-high. With plans to deploy a working satellite by Q4 of 2025, their goal to commoditize sunlight and deliver the sun’s energy to a solar array on demand is no longer speculative—it’s engineering in motion.
If this tech pans out, it might not be long before we schedule sunlight to thousands of solar farms the same way we book a dinner reservation or plan an Escape Room SF Bay Area experience. And just like those collaborative exercises that push teams to think outside the box, Reflect Orbital’s model invites us to challenge what’s possible—on Earth and far above it.