Developing a constellation of satellites to sell sunlight to thousands of solar farms after dark.
Created: 2023-01-14
Updated: 2025-01-09
Company - Reflect Orbital
- Founded
- Country
- 2021
- USA
- Funding
- $6.5M+
- Previous Names
- Tons of Mirrors (TOM)
- Website
- https://www.reflectorbital.com/
Product/Service
- Classification
- Space Utilities
- Category
- Space Solar Power
Power Beaming
- Fields
- Wireless Power Transfer
Mirrors
- Status
- Development
- First launch
- 2025
Reflect Orbital is building reflectors in space to shine sunlight on solar panels at night.
Sequoia’s first space investment since SpaceX is in sunlight-seller Reflect Orbital, 2024-09-24.
- Nowack left Zipline to start Reflect in October 2021; after a year at Stanford, Semmelhack took a leave of absence to join him as co-founder and CTO. Two years later, the company is preparing to contract its first orbital mission, which would launch next year.
- The first orbital mission will fly a subscale prototype with a reflector that’s 10 by 10 meters.
- But Semmelhack said these figures are inaccurate; 57 satellites ringing Earth will guarantee a half hour of service twice per day, once in the morning and once in the evening, the minimum to achieve the plans to “extend the day.” The pair also say that 10 by 10 meters is “just a starting point”: Full-scale production vehicles will deploy arrays that are much larger, around 50 by 50 meters or bigger, with the planned constellation growing to “thousands to tens of thousands” of satellites.
- “The 10 by 10 is our demonstration that will be brighter than a full moon, roughly 400,000 times less bright than the sun at noon,” Nowack explained over email. “Our production service is targeting 1/5 noon sunlight brightness and will use 100’s – 1000’s of larger vehicles focused at one spot. A 50 by 50 satellite is actually on the small end.”
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