|
By Coco Liu
A startup that aims
to keep
solar farms running at night by reflecting
sunlight from space has sparked controversy
among astronomers whose work relies on dark
skies.
California-based Reflect
Orbital recently requested a license from
the Federal Communications Commission to launch
a demonstration satellite in 2026, as its first
step to creating a constellation that will
redirect sunlight to precise locations on
demand. The startup says it plans to launch
dozens more over the next two years, with a goal
of having about 4,000 satellites in orbit by
2030.
A Falcon 9
rocket with multiple Starlink satellites. Photographer:
George Rose/Getty Images North America
Reflect Orbital’s
plan has won the backing of investors that
include Sequoia
Capital and tech billionaire Baiju Bhatt.
But while its mission is to extend the operating
hours of solar farms, astronomers say doing so
will come at the expense of their research.
“Illuminating the
ground at night with 4,000 bright satellites of
this kind is potentially ruinous to
state-of-the-art, ground-based optical
astronomy,” says Anthony Tyson, the chief
scientist of the
Rubin Observatory, which will begin its
sky survey next year.
While Reflect
Orbital says the redirected light from its first
demonstration satellite will be similar to the
illumination of a full moon, that would still be
“blindingly bright” for sensitive astronomy
cameras, Tyson says.
The American
Astronomical Society launched a survey in August
asking its members to weigh in on the impact of
Reflect Orbital’s proposed satellite. Of more
than 1,400 astronomers who submitted their
responses so far, the majority said that their
work would be impacted.
Reflecting sunlight
to the dark side of Earth may have other
pitfalls. Scientists have documented how
artificial light at night can disrupt the
behavior of nocturnal species such as moths,
frogs and bats, and degrade some of the benefits
ecosystems provide. Light pollution can also
have adverse impacts on human health, though
with many large solar farms located far from
population centers, that may be less of a
concern. Reflect Orbital has pledged that it
will assess the environmental impact and
potential effects on local communities at every
location the company serves.
“We understand that
because our system introduces a new scale to
redirect natural light, it will continuously
raise important questions,” Reflect Orbital
wrote in an emailed statement to Bloomberg
Green. The startup says it is working
with the astronomical community to mitigate
potential impacts.
Read the
whole story to learn more about the
increasingly clogged skies.
Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva, Brazil's president Photographer:
Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg
How COP30 succeeds — or
fails — will be the defining climate legacy of
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Bloomberg
Green looked at six
aspects that will determine the summit’s
fate.
Hedge funds
speculating on wildfire
insurance claims in California were dealt
a legal blow after the state adopted new
legislation designed to stifle such bets.
A decision by Japan’s
$1.8 trillion pension fund, the
world’s biggest, to consider a shift
into impact investing has triggered a
wider adjustment among the country’s money
managers.
The “Berlin
Bear” holds up a gas turbine at the entrance
of Siemens Energy’s plant Photographer:
Nicolo Lanfranchi
Rising power demand
from data centers for artificial intelligence
has led to a shortage
of the gas turbines needed to generate
electricity. This shortage might not seem the
most obvious climate story, but it's having
impacts across the entire energy sector. This
week on Zero, Bloomberg’s Stephen Stapczynski
joins Akshat Rathi to look at what’s causing the
bottleneck in gas turbines, if the shortage will
make companies look to renewables or coal, and
whether natural gas is really a “bridge” fuel.
Listen now, and
subscribe on Apple, Spotify or YouTube to get new
episodes of Zero every Thursday.
|
