Reflect Orbital, a California startup, wants to launch a cluster of mirrors into orbit to beam sunlight to solar power plants to boost electricity production after dark.
Simulation of a satellite equipped with a mirror reflecting sunlight back to Earth. Photo: Security Lab
Ben Nowack, founder and CEO of Reflect Orbital, introduced the company's plans at the International Space Energy Conference in late April, according to Space . A prototype of Reflect Orbital's light-reflecting satellite could launch next year.
Reflect Orbital wants to develop a constellation of 57 small satellites that orbit the Earth in polar sun-synchronous orbit, at an altitude of 600 kilometers. In that orbit, the satellites would circle the Earth from pole to pole. The satellites would pass over every point on Earth at the same time of day, twice in 24 hours. In total, the 57 satellites would provide an extra 30 minutes of sunlight to the power plant, when the energy is needed most, according to Nowack.
The cost of solar panels has dropped 90% in the past 15 years, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, and their efficiency continues to increase thanks to advances in photovoltaic technology. As a result, solar power is now the cheapest form of electricity available to humanity, according to Carbon Brief.
But the intermittent nature of solar power generation is a problem that experts are still struggling to solve. On cloudy days, solar plants produce less than when the sky is clear. At night, solar production stops completely. Batteries and other forms of renewable energy can pick up the slack. For now, nuclear and coal plants serve as backups.
Reflect Orbital’s satellite weighs just 35 pounds and is equipped with 30-by-30-foot mylar mirrors for deployment in orbit. Mylar is a plastic material used for insulation and packaging in space. The mirrors will be adjustable to focus light into a narrow beam that can be redirected and focused based on the needs of the solar farm operator.
Last year, Reflect Orbital tested mirrors on balloons floating 3 kilometers above a solar farm. They can produce 500 watts of energy per square meter of solar panels. The company has raised enough funding to launch its first test satellite into space by 2025.
An Khang (According to Space )
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