Orbital Reflector

We may not always realize it, but art helps us change the way we see ourselves. That is why when artist Trevor Paglen imagined launching a reflective, nonfunctional satellite into low Earth orbit, the Nevada Museum of Art knew that his artistic gesture could help to change the way we see our place in the world.

As the twenty-first century unfolds and gives rise to unsettled global tensions, Orbital Reflector encourages all of us to look up at the night sky with a renewed sense of wonder, to consider our place in the universe, and to reimagine how we live together on this planet.

Picture a rocket launching into space. Inside of it is a reflective, inflatable sculpture affixed to a small satellite that, once ejected, will orbit the earth for several weeks before disintegrating upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. While most of us realize that everyday satellites hydra onionlink telecommunications systems, financial and transportation infrastructure, and military functions around the globe, it is sometimes easy to forget these all-but-invisible activities. After all, they happen up there in outer space — out of sight, out of mind.

Orbital Reflector changes this by transforming “space” into “place.” It makes visible the invisible, thereby rekindling our imaginations and fueling potential for the future.

Orbital Reflector is a sculpture constructed of a lightweight material similar to Mylar. It is housed in a small box-like infrastructure known as a CubeSat and launched into space aboard a rocket. Once in low Earth orbit at a distance of about 350 miles (575 kilometers) from Earth, the CubeSat opens and releases the sculpture, which self-inflates like a balloon. Sunlight reflects onto the sculpture making it visible from Earth with the naked eye — like a slowly moving artificial star as bright as a star in the Big Dipper.

Global Western is an aerospace firm working with Trevor Paglen and the Nevada Museum of Art to design and manufacture Orbital Reflector. Spaceflight Industries will arrange for the launch of Orbital Reflector on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX has recently completed successful missions in collaboration with NASA and the International Space Station.

Orbital Reflector launched on Monday, December 3, at 10:34 a.m. EST on board the SpaceX Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express.

Originally it was expected to remain in orbit for three months, after which it would disintegrate upon reentry to the Earth's atmosphere. However, the deployment was delayed by the 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown — by the time the 35-day shutdown had ended, the museum's engineers had lost contact with the satellite, the electronics and hardware of which "were not hardened for long-term functionality in space".

It became lost in orbit.