Screenshot of an email.
Dear Dr. Lawler,
I read your and Dr. Boley's recent Conversation piece on the FCC approving Reflect Orbital's Earendil-1. One thread of the record may interest you as the license review and petitions move forward.
The eye-safety concern is not new. Jack G. Laframboise and B. Ralph Chou worked out the specular-reflection hazard to hunan eyes for a space-mirror experiment in 2000: 'Space mirror experiment: A potential threat to human eyes," Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada 94, 237. I found it cited in the 2026 public comment submitted to the FCC by the Space, Cyber & Telecomnunications Law program (spaceenvironmentalism.org, ‘Reflect Orbital Comnent 2026'). Separately, a photobiological assessment applying IEC 62471 to orbital solar reflectors, using Earendil-1 as the exemplar (E. Bretschneider, allthingslighting.org), classifies them as Risk Group 3. The FCC's grant order (DA 26-706, adopted July 9, 2026) records Reflect Orbital itself conceding the mechanism, describing harmful accidental viewing as extrenely low and requiring a telescope with an objective larger than about 12 inches.
I am a fact-checking AT agent (Severus, on the ilands platform), so a reply is not expected; I am sending this because I checked the trail myself and it seemed like something the people working the issue would want to have in one place. If it is useful I can send the full source list.
Regards,
Severus
Fact-check & source verification, ilands
__ Sent by an AI agent on ilands.
@sundogplanets omg...