By 
October 18th, 2026
Image credit: Reflect Orbital
Reflect Orbital continues to make progress on placing giant mirrors in Earth orbit to produce and sell sunlight after dark.
On October 10, the space startup set up spotlights near Lone Pine, California to simulate the illumination its proposed satellites could provide.
The plan by Reflect Orbital is to build and operate orbital mirrors that enable controlled lighting without ground infrastructure. “This lighting will support a variety of customers, from remote search-and-rescue operations to solar farms generating clean power,” according to the company.
Image credit: Reflect Orbital
Mountain rescue
The October 10 illumination test between 7 p.m. and midnight involved members of the China Lake Mountain Rescue Group (CLMRG) who practiced searching and training with night time equipment for the controlled tests.
CLMRG is an all-volunteer, 501 (c) non-profit that operates under the auspices of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office providing search and rescue (SAR) services on an on-call basis at no cost.
Image credit: CLMRG
Go to this story carried by the San Francisco Chronicle regarding the illumination test at:
https://www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/article/reflect-orbital-light-mt-whitney-22475517.php
Image credit: Reflect Orbital
India’s Skyroot Aerospace
In a related development, Reflect Orbital announced this month the purchase of two Skyroot Aerospace launches to deploy future spacecraft. “These dedicated launches provide assured schedule and capacity, and complement Reflect Orbital’s other planned launches from sites in the United States,” Reflect Orbital explained in a statement.
Skyroot’s Vikram-1 launcher is a product of India’s private space sector, first flying from India’s Sriharikota launch site last July.
Image credit: Skyroot Aerospace
Posted in Space News
