The Federal Communications Commission has authorized Reflect Orbital to launch EARENDIL-1, a prototype "mirror satellite" designed to reflect sunlight to ground-based solar installations, granting it access to five frequency bands despite a formal petition to deny from the American Astronomical Society and thousands of public complaints.

The US space technology company wants eventually to deploy a constellation of up to 50,000 mirror satellites that would redirect the sun's rays onto solar farms on the ground, enabling continuous solar generation even at night. The prototype will carry what the company describes in its FCC filing as a "deployable, highly specular thin film reflector" to direct sunlight "to a designated target on the ground."

Controlling the spacecraft and its reflector depends on spectrum across several bands. The FCC approved the 401-402 MHz band — allocated internationally and in the US for the space operations service — for telemetry, command and tracking, alongside S-band, X-band and UHF space operations frequencies. Reflect Orbital requested 2025-2110 MHz Earth-to-space for command uplink, 2200-2290 MHz space-to-Earth for telemetry downlink, and 8450-8500 MHz space-to-Earth in the science research service band for its payload downlink.

The authorization carries strict conditions protecting federal users. Transmissions are "limited in duration" to periods when EARENDIL-1 is visible to a list of 15 Earth stations coordinated with federal agencies, including sites at Svalbard in Norway, Punta Arenas in Chile, Pretoria in South Africa, Boden and Umea in Sweden, Denver in Colorado and El Segundo in California. Operations in the 401-402 MHz band must be coordinated with NASA, the Department of Commerce, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the US Air Force Spectrum Management Office. The Department of the Navy gets an additional say over the company's 2 GHz operations, and interference limits apply in every requested band.

The Commission also waived parts of the US frequency allocation table. "We find it is in the public interest to waive the U.S. Table, to the extent necessary, to authorise Reflect Orbital's operations in this band [2025-2110 MHz] since doing so is consistent with the Commission's goal to efficiently use spectrum and foster innovative satellite technologies," the order states. Reflect Orbital must operate in that band, and in the 8450-8500 MHz band typically used by organizations such as NASA, on an unprotected, non-interference basis.

The company will use 8450-8500 MHz to transmit data "regarding the deployment and functionality of its novel reflector," which it asserts fits the definition of the science research service, the FCC said.

The scientific opposition was substantial. The American Astronomical Society filed a petition to deny, and the American Institute of Physics warned of the "potential for catastrophic interference with federally funded astronomical research." The International Astronomical Union and Española Astronomy argued that the satellite and a future constellation would cause harmful interference to other radio frequency services. The FCC rejected those arguments, saying the comments "are not specific to Reflect Orbital's proposed radio-frequency operations and provide no technical support for claims of potential interference from the alleged potential reflection of radio waves by its solar reflector or other unintentional emissions."

Light pollution concerns, raised by groups including Darksky International and amplified by astronomers' warnings that space mirrors could be 40 times brighter than the full moon, generated thousands of public comments. The Commission dismissed this line of objection too, ruling that potential optical interference falls outside its remit.

The decision fits a broader FCC pattern. The Commission has moved this year to authorize unconventional space projects — Reflect Orbital's plans are frequently compared with SpaceX's proposal for a million AI data centres in orbit. In April, the FCC consulted on a framework for projects that fall between existing spectrum licensing categories, informally dubbed the "weird space stuff" framework, which has now been adopted. The Commission argues there is an acute shortage of spectrum for TT&C functions and has moved toward exactly the approach taken with EARENDIL-1: allowing tracking, telemetry and command on an unprotected basis. That framework gives future mirror-satellite applications — and other projects in the same regulatory gap — a defined path to spectrum access.