Day after dark: California startup partners with India’s Skyroot to sell sunlight at night

For decades, the idea of capturing sunlight in space and beaming it down to a dark Earth lived exclusively in science fiction, and in a forgotten 1993 Russian experiment called Znamya, where engineers briefly swept a 65-foot orbital mirror across the sky before running out of funding.

Now, California-based startup Reflect Orbital is turning that sci-fi premise into a commercial reality.

Reflect Orbital plans to beam sunlight to precise locations on Earth at night using an orbital constellation of large reflectors. To get its satellites into orbit, the company has secured a two-launch agreement with Hyderabad’s Skyroot Aerospace using its Vikram rocket series. The service promises to extend power output at solar facilities and provide crucial nighttime lighting for disaster relief.

Selling the sun: Reflect Orbital inks deal for nighttime solar beam satellites

“These launches give us assured schedule and capacity alongside our other planned launches from US sites,” Reflect Orbital said in a statement.

“Excited to partner with Reflect Orbital, pioneering one of the most innovative ways to harness space technology to unlock new possibilities here on Earth! Looking forward to launching their vision of sunshine on demand with @SkyrootA rockets,” Skyroot Aerospace CEO Pawan Chandana said in a post on X.

Reflect Orbital secured approval from the Federal Communications Commission in July to construct, launch, and operate a demonstration satellite.

The company’s planned system can deliver adjustable, controllable sunlight over a five-kilometre zone, with the ability to turn illumination on or off as needed. Key applications beyond clean energy include extending work shifts in remote industrial areas, aiding defense operations by illuminating key infrastructure, and hosting specialized public events.

The partnership will kick off with a launch using Skyroot's Vikram-1 rocket, followed by a second mission aboard the upgraded Vikram-1U. Currently in development, the Vikram-1U builds on the original design by adding extra first-stage boosters to deliver greater lifting capacity.

"We were recently licensed by the Federal Communications Commission to operate our first spacecraft, and we will continue to work with astronomers, local communities and regulators to earn the right to scale," Nowack said.

This isn't the first attempt to mirror sunlight from orbit, Russia pulled off a similar feat in 1993 with its Znamya project, though it was ultimately abandoned due to lack of funding.

Reflect Orbital now faces modern hurdles of its own: environmental advocacy groups are urging the FCC to pull the plug on the company's test satellite. Critics argue that beaming sunlight at night threatens to throw off biological clocks in humans and wildlife while creating severe light pollution for astronomers.

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