JUST IN: A California space startup has illuminated a section of desert near Mount Whitney at night, demonstrating how future satellites could deliver sunlight to Earth on demand. Reflect Orbital conducted the October 10 test using powerful ground-based spotlights to simulate sunlight redirected from orbit by large reflective mirrors. Working with China Lake Mountain Rescue, the company illuminated terrain across roughly three miles, allowing rescue teams to conduct nighttime searches, stretcher carries and other emergency-response exercises. Reflect Orbital ultimately wants to deploy satellites capable of directing sunlight toward specific areas on Earth after sunset, potentially supporting emergency operations and extending electricity generation at solar farms. The company received FCC authorization in July for its first experimental satellite, Eärendil-1, which will use an 18-meter reflector to test the concept from orbit. The October demonstration used ground-based lighting. No orbital mirror has yet demonstrated the proposed capability.

All you need in the HOOD. $1M.

Day 2 is coming to an end, here are the stats. 1.7K Mints, $115k Distributed, Full refunded all early people who overpaid. Just want to say a huge thank you to everyone supporting this so far, today was bumpy I won't get into all the reasons because I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the most important part is we fixed it. All of the issues people were complaining about, we came to a consensus, and everyone was fully re-imbursed. Always love documenting how days went so cheers to day 2.

.@slingoorio trippin

Legendary stuff from the neighbors