Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service".
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@sundogplanets Ok, so launching one satellite every 10 minutes nonstop would take almost 20 years to launch a million satellites, and that is assuming that someone can build them and deliver them to launch pads at that rate.
Completely unrealistic. Is this really about launching that much or is it about generating hype before trying to sell something or raise money?
@BrianJohnson @sundogplanets Odds definitely say that a million AI datacenters in orbit is just more fragile ego twitter trolling for shareholders.
However playing with the numbers conservatively, using the 2025 SpaceX launch numbers (down from initial targets) and assuming starlink sattellites get retooled (or just rebranded) as "AI datacenters" for twitter/shareholder creds, SpaceX would need 125 years to launch 1mill units. 62.5 years if using Starship.
Plenty damage early on "for the lols"
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@Olson @markmetz @sundogplanets @river this is all making reincarnation look like a bad idea
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets telling my 1920s time travel companion that in 2026 the capitalists aren’t trying to privatise the night sky — they’re trying to destroy it, for imaginary gains to their bad mechanical Turk.
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets Hello
, Nice meeting you all Am New Here -
Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets i can't shake the image of a pacman in orbit nomming on satellites
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets the fact that any country is just allowed to do this is so fucked
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@sundogplanets It makes zero sense to launch datacenters in space. I ain't gonna go through the technical reasons why, but you can read here where someone that actually worked at NASA and google explaining why its a bad idea... https://taranis.ie/datacenters-in-space-are-a-terrible-horrible-no-good-idea/
But if I could take a moment to poke my conspiracy brain, I think this is more for building an advanced surveillance network against the whole world. You can possibly monitor almost everything on Earth with a network like that.
@MimiWhiskers @sundogplanets thank you, glad to see that someone who's an expert has written a thorough debunk. It was obvious to me that it was a terrible idea just because of the cooling but it's great to see all the other reasons laid out clearly too
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets
When burning ants alive with a magnifying glass makes you wish you could hear the screams….. cartoonish supervillainy shit right here, jfc -
Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets I can't believe this is actually fucking real.
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets
You just wait until Elon figures he wants a hand in space-based beamed power... -
Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets can we use a template or create an online petition to bring awareness to this?
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@Prof. Sam Lawler comments for US citizens only or worldwide?
@sophie worldwide
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@sundogplanets can we use a template or create an online petition to bring awareness to this?
@taniacreates DarkSky is working on a template, I'll share their instructions once it's up
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@sundogplanets I can't believe this is actually fucking real.
@PersistentDreamer I know
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets is it open to foreigners? I don't see that they are asking for an address?
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@sundogplanets How is it that U.S. companies get to destroy space for the entire Earth?
@Nonya_Bidniss @sundogplanets I think I posted something before with china shooting these things down and people cheering, like an american movie, but china is the one that save the day.
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
@sundogplanets
Building a giant slingshot do you think can work? -
@Nonya_Bidniss @sundogplanets No one is stopping us. (please change that)
@Epic_Null @Nonya_Bidniss @sundogplanets Exactly this.
Epstein kiddie-fuckers get away with it because no one stops them.
Space-destroying tech-bros get away with it because no one stops them.
Why is that?
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Reflect Orbital wants to destroy the night sky to deliver "sunlight as a service". SpaceX wants to destroy Low Earth Orbit to launch one million "AI datacentres"
The only way to formally protest these two ideas is to file a comment with the US FCC, which is horribly complicated, but the American Astronomical Society has detailed instructions posted here: https://aas.org/posts/advocacy/2026/02/how-submit-comments-satellite-applications-fcc
Comments due March 6 for SpaceX and March 9 for Reflect Orbital. Write! Write! Write!
At first I had read the company's name as Rectal Orbit.
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@sundogplanets that sounds like something that would’ve sounded so far-fetched it’s cartoonish if it was a thing in a scifi story a few years ago. It sounds like something that would still be if it appeared in a scifi story today. I hate this timeline. Dystopian media should not be an instruction manual.
@enby_of_the_apocalypse @sundogplanets yeah
A giant mirror for “sunlight as a service” is one of those things that sounds great if you’re an executive who likes science fiction and has been hot boxing Silicon Valley narratives for the last twenty years.
But to anyone who reads science fiction and actually gets the underlying themes rather than just “cool tech bro”, the only way I can describe this is a horrifying plan straight out of an Austin Powers movie.
