反射卫星计划引发天文学家强烈抗议

Since 1989, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell has tracked every human-made object in space. McDowell’s meticulously maintained catalog, updated every few weeks, is more comprehensive and detailed than that of most governments. From his front-row seat, he has watched with growing alarm as private companies launched dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of satellites over the last decade. So when McDowell heard that a space company called Reflect Orbital plans to launch a satellite to reflect the sun’s light onto the night side of Earth, he heaved a deep sigh. “It’s an insane project,” says McDowell, who retired from Harvard this year and is now an honorary professor at Durham University in England. …