Plans to Fill the Sky with Satellites May Have Disastrous Consequences
SpaceX and Reflect Orbital have plans to send up a vast quantity of satellites to space, aiming to increase the number of data centers or use sunlight reflecting space mirrors. CSSH/CEE Assistant Professor Tiffany Nichols helps weigh in on the drastic effects of these endeavors, warning that the disruption of the day-night cycle will affect all life on Earth in potentially disastrous ways.
This article originally appeared in Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cody Mello-Klein.
One million new satellites could soon transform night into day on Earth
An array of man-made satellites beam sunlight down to Earth. An artificial constellation of thousands of satellites illuminates the night sky.
These scenarios might sound like science fiction. But between SpaceX’s plans to launch 1 million satellites as part of its satellite-based internet network Starlink, and Reflect Orbital’s sunlight reflecting space mirrors, private companies could change the way our night sky looks. In fact, it could look more like daytime.
For life on Earth, which relies on a traditional day-night cycle, that could spell disaster, experts said.
“In places like cities, where you don’t get night anymore in the traditional sense, a lot of species really struggle,” said Anncy Thresher, an assistant professor of public policy, urban affairs and philosophy at Northeastern University who focuses on environmental issues. “We know that’s true just from streetlights and the lights from normal human activity, let alone if you’re pointing a beam of sunlight at areas.”
Radically changing the night sky, which is what the projects underway would do, will impact every form of life on Earth, from humans to plants.
If approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Reflect Orbital aims to launch 50,000 satellites that would reflect beams of sunlight back to targeted areas of Earth by 2035. The company claims its technology would be used to expand solar energy production, extend agricultural seasons and even replace streetlights in cities. Reflect Orbital did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, SpaceX, Elon Musk’s commercial space operation, hopes its 1 million satellites would serve as floating data centers. That is more than 70 times the number of satellites currently orbiting Earth, a “completely unprecedented” amount of objects in space, Thresher said. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.
The fundamental problem is that it’s “unclear who has jurisdiction in space,” Thresher said. And the modern space race remains one with few limits for private companies with dreams of reaching the great unknown.
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty and the 2020 Artemis Accords are the only two real pieces of regulation determining how governments and companies can operate in space. In this early stage of commercial space launches, neither agreement requires much of companies. In the last year, the Trump administration has only reduced the amount of oversight for space-based operations in an attempt to “ensure American space superiority.”
In this murky space, are private companies’ efforts to find “a solution in search of a problem,” worth the biological and astronomical cost, Thrasher wondered.
For instance, birds use the stars to navigate and determine their migration patterns. The addition of more “stars” will disrupt those biologically ingrained behaviors with disastrous results, said Tiffany Nichols, an assistant professor of history and civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern. Nichols also co-chaired the American Astronomical Society’s Committee for the Protection of Astronomy and the Space Environment.