FCC Approves Reflecting Satellite Opposed by Astronomers

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission approved a light-reflecting satellite opposed by astronomy groups. The commission said it does not have the authority to review risks of harm from reflected light, and that these harms were unlikely to occur. The American Astronomical Society has opposed the satellite, warning of “potential for catastrophic interference with federally funded astronomical research.” (AAS is an AIP Member Society.)

At the same time, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is proposing a voluntary certification process to authorize novel space activities that are not within the regulatory authority of other agencies, including the proposed satellite. Taylor Jordan, the head of NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce, discussed the NOAA proposal in a House Science Committee hearing Wednesday and said NOAA intends to consider scientific impact, including impacts to astronomy and light pollution, in its certification process.

The satellite, proposed by the company Reflect Orbital, would reflect sunlight from space to Earth’s surface using mirrors, allowing customers to receive light at any time. Use cases could include search-and-rescue, lighting streets without carbon emissions, and dramatically increasing the availability of solar energy, according to the Reflect Orbital website. The company plans to have two satellites in orbit in 2026 and more than 50,000 in 2035.

The proposed satellite would mark the first deployment of a system intentionally designed to deliver artificial daylight at night, as existing satellites only produce incidental reflections, according to AAS. “The commission’s decision here will establish a precedent governing future deployments of similar systems at scale,” AAS added in one FCC filing.

Those satellites, particularly those within large constellations, have already drawn concern from the astronomical community. Over the past decade, the number of active satellites in low Earth orbit has surged from 1,200 to around 12,000, with thousands more planned to launch in the coming years.

AAS has argued that the proposed satellite would disrupt astronomical observations, including by causing total loss of images or decreased observing time if the satellite passes through a telescope’s field of vision and by making it more difficult to observe objects such as rare supernovae and certain neutron stars.

The FCC approved the satellite license, stating that risks regarding the solar reflector are outweighed by the public interest benefits of authorizing the testing of the technology. “It is in the public interest to make spectrum available to encourage companies to test new and innovative space activities, as it promotes American innovation and the new services and economic growth that come from that innovation,” the FCC added.

The FCC stated that its rules do not address the protection of optical astronomy and therefore declined to interpret related concerns. Reflect Orbital says it is already actively working with the astronomy community to establish exclusion zones to protect optical astronomical research sites and coordinate to protect optical astronomy in general, and the terms of the license include a commitment to coordinate with NASA and the National Science Foundation to protect optical astronomy and to work with the wider astronomical community to address the concerns raised, the approval states.

In response, AAS said it is deeply concerned by the FCC’s statement that the deployment of a solar reflector is beyond its regulatory authority. “This logic implies that the Commission would also have no ability to consider the severe implications of a constellation of 50,000 solar reflectors like that envisioned by Reflect Orbital,” AAS said in a press release. “In the absence of another licensing agency that could take these considerations into account, we believe that it is critical for the FCC to consider all of the impacts of the satellite’s use case.”

In Wednesday’s House Science Committee hearing, Jordan pointed to the FCC’s decision as an example where NOAA’s proposed framework for certifying novel space activities would be useful. The FCC is “only regulating what they have existing authority to do, like radiofrequency transmission,” Jordan said. “They did not answer the question about in-space activities, and that is what needs to be authorized and supervised by the federal government” to ensure space safety, international obligations, and national security, he added.

Beyond the U.S., a committee at the United Nations is looking into the effects of satellites on astronomy and could one day lead to some form of international agreement. The group will discuss the topic annually through 2029.

AAS also said it was dismayed to see no requirement for a formal coordination agreement between Reflect Orbital and NSF to protect federally funded astronomical facilities, as the FCC has previously required of satellite operators such as SpaceX.

AAS argued in one filing that Reflect Orbital has failed to address concerns or answer questions from the astronomical community regarding several key elements of the proposed satellite, including the brightness of the mirror during its regular repointing, choosing and maintaining exclusion zones, where the satellite’s testing zones would be, or any mitigation strategies to avoid damaging astronomy equipment or people’s eye health.
Even if exclusion zones are maintained around astronomical facilities, they could be affected by incidental reflections of light from the satellite, and aiming the satellite beam at an observatory could easily damage or disable detectors, AAS added.

Furthermore, AAS said many in the amateur astronomy community, as well as astronomy students learning to use telescopes and the professional astronomers teaching them, use telescopes with a lens of 12 inches or larger, which Reflect Orbital suggested could cause eye damage if looking directly at the satellite. The FCC approval called this a “small risk under unlikely circumstances.” AAS also argued that the calculation that the lens must be at least 12 inches to cause damage has not been peer-reviewed and appears at odds with previous, peer-reviewed calculations.

In total, Reflect Orbital received about 1,800 comments on its satellite application. AAS was the only group that filed a petition to deny, though the Asociación Argentinade Astronomía and the Sociedad Española de Astronomía both filed similar petitions that were rejected for lacking required certifications.