Reflect Orbital readies satellite to unfurl volleyball-court-size mirror and sell sunlight
kyliebytes · x · 2026-09-11
- Core Memory publishes a deep profile of space startup Reflect Orbital: founders Ben Nowack (CEO) and Tristan Semmelhack (CPO), both in their twenties, are waiting for a Falcon 9 rideshare slot to test their audacious thesis — selling sunlight to regions that lack it or need it at different hours.
- The core engineering challenge: unfurling a volleyball-court-sized mirror from a satellite smaller than a mini fridge. The company famously screened job candidates by watching them fold paper cranes, believing the best folders were the best fabricators.
- Early prototypes, including a reflector stitched from hundreds of fabric tiles, were scrapped as too complex and costly; they now hang as wall art in the new Hawthorne, California headquarters. After four years of trial and error, the first satellite is set to launch.
Related event: Reflect Orbital Plans to Sell Sunlight via Satellite Mirrors(3 posts)→
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