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tehmightyengineer t1_j8vfo52 wrote

In the past 5 years two organizations have launched temporary satellites designed specifically to reflect light. One was somewhat dim and the other wasn't deployed in time due to a government shutdown and could not be seen.

That said, there's generally not been any outcry because nobody has really done anything that disruptive (these sats were small points of light), but it's pretty well understood that the first organization that functionally changes the night sky for some commercial purposes will receive nothing but bad publicity from it. So I doubt anyone will actually do it.

SpaceX sats are specifically designed to not reflect light when in position specifically because of the backlash over the number of them. Currently they still mess with astronomy to some degree but they're not going to be visible when in their final orbit. Most anyone else launching sats will do the same.

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