Can a solar spacecraft give Earth the energy it needs?

• Reflect Orbital says its spacecraft will be able to beam solar energy to where it’s needed
• Company claims this will help move the world away from fossil fuels
• Spacecraft can launch after been given permission by FCC to low-orbit

It might soon be possible for more people to have access to solar energy, even those without panels and who are far away from a solar farm, thanks to a solar spacecraft.

The spacecraft is the Eärendil-1, a satellite from space technology company Reflect Orbital. It’s designed to deliver light and solar energy to “make existing solar infrastructure more useful” when there is no direct sunlight available.

The company says this can help governments cut their dependence on fossil fuels as well as “increase energy independence and support critical operations”.

It’s not designed as a replacement for solar, wind, storage, nuclear, or geothermal energy but something that will offer another tool in the transition away from oil and gas.

Describing the need for clean energy as “one of the defining problems of the 21st century”, Reflect Orbital says Eärendil-1 will reflect sunlight from orbit to “precise, targeted areas on Earth”.

According to the company, the global energy problem is “large enough, urgent enough, and consequential enough” that “new categories of clean-energy technology deserve to be built and tested”.

Last month Reflect Orbital was given a license by the Federal Communications Commission in the US to launch the Eärendil-1, into Low Earth Orbit.

“Billions of people globally still do not have access to reliable, abundant sources of energy,” the company explained.

“And much of the energy system we inherited still depends on finite fuel sources that damage human health, destabilize the climate, and degrade the environment we all depend on.

‍”The challenge is not simply to produce energy. It is to produce vastly more energy than ever before, at global scale, quickly enough to make a difference – all while keeping it clean.”

What difference will this make to the energy transition? We don’t know yet, but anything that helps solar increase its share of the global energy mix. It’s an exciting project and we’ll keep a look out to see how it develops.

Written By

Maximilian Schwerdtfeger Deputy editor

Max joined The Eco Experts as content manager in February 2024 and became deputy editor in 2025. He has written about sustainability issues across numerous industries, including maritime, supply chain, finance, mining, and retail. He has also written extensively for consumer titles like City AM, The Morning Star, and The Daily Express.

He has represented The Eco Experts on national television several times, including the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live and ITV Tonight .

In 2020, he covered in detail the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) legislation on sulphur emissions and its effects on the global container shipping market as online editor of Port Technology International.

He also explored the initiatives major container ports and terminals have launched in order to ship vital goods across the world without polluting the environment.

Since then, he has reported heavily on the impact made by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on the supply chain of minerals, with a particular focus on rare earth mining in Africa.

As part of this, in 2022 Max visited mines and ports in Angola to hone in on the challenges being faced by one of the world’s biggest producers of rare earth minerals.

His most recent sustainability-related work came much closer to home, as he investigated the eco-challenges faced by independent retailers in the UK, specifically looking at how they can cut emissions and continue to thrive.

Max lives in South London and is an avid reader of books on modern history. He has also recently learned to play the game Mahjong and takes every opportunity to do so. He is also yet to find a sport he doesn’t enjoy watching.

More about