The Mirrors Are Coming

University of Connecticut Physics Professor Edgar Everhart is an amateur astronomer who has discovered one comet and is co-discoverer of an other. He takes his avocation seriously. When the city of Hartford installed street lights that Everhart considered needlessly bright, he complained that the glow they cast in the night sky interfered with celestial observations. But even Hartford's street lights paled into insignificance when Everhart got wind of Project Able--a little-publicized NASA and Defense Department project to put into orbit mirror-like satellites that would reflect the sun and illuminate large areas of earth at night.

The controversial proposal, which is being evaluated by five U.S. companies under NASA study contracts totaling $490,000, would launch inflatable satellites into synchronous orbits 22,300 miles above the earth. Opened up and inflated, the satellites would take the shape of disks 2,000 ft. in diameter, each with a highly reflective, mirror-like face. Using attitude-control jets, ground controllers could position the space mirrors to direct the reflected rays of the sun down toward the night side of the earth. The reflection could illuminate a circular area approximately 220 miles in diameter with nearly twice the brightness of the full moon.

Circadian Rhythms. NASA has suggested that such nighttime illumination would be useful in search-and-rescue work, in spacecraft-recovery operations and in lengthening short winter days at high latitudes. But its spokesmen have carefully avoided discussing another obvious application: military use in Viet Nam. A single mirror satellite in synchronous orbit over Southeast Asia could cast light on an area stretching from Saigon all the way to Pointe de Camau, at the southern tip of Viet Nam, thus depriving guerrillas of the protection of darkness.

Despite these practical applications, many scientists share Physicist Everhart's concern about the space mirrors. Biologists fear that decreasing the hours of darkness could disturb the delicate circadian rhythms that control many life processes. Other scientists envision a mirror swinging out of control, reflecting sunlight indiscriminately over the night face of the earth. Even more alarming to Everhart is the potential proliferation of the mirrors. "Farmers would demand them to plow their fields at night," he says, "and resort owners would want them to light their lakes and pools." Singlehanded, Everhart has mounted an intensive campaign to rally the scientific community against Project Able. "It isn't important that I find any more comets," he says, "but it is important that the night sky be preserved for astronomy."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.