Orbital Reflector is a reflective, mylar sculpture by Trevor Paglen launched into space as a temporary satellite. Co-produced by the Nevada Museum of Art, the $1.3 million project had the objective of being the first “purely artistic” object in space. The satellite, containing an inflatable mylar balloon with reflective surface, launched into space 3 December 2018.
![]() | This article needs to be updated. (December 2021) |
Orbital Reflector | |
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Artist | Trevor Paglen |
Year | 2018 |
Website | www |
Orbital Reflector launched on Monday, December 3rd, at 10:34 a.m. EST on board the SpaceX Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express.[1]
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".[2][3]
It became lost in orbit, constituting space junk. [citation needed]
← 2017 · Orbital launches in 2018 · 2019 → | |
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January | USA-280 / Zuma – SuperView / Gaojing-1 03 · 04 – BeiDou-3 M7 · M8 – Cartosat-2F · Microsat · INS-1C · PicSat · ICEYE-X1 · Fox-1D – LKW-3 – ASNARO-2 – Jilin 1 07 · 08 · Xiaoxiang · Zhou Enlai · Kepler · Quantutong-1 – USA-282 / SBIRS-GEO-4 – "Still Testing" (Dove Pioneer · Lemur-2 × 2 · Humanity Star) – Yaogan 30K · 30L · 30M · Weina 1A – SES-14 · Al Yah 3 – GovSat-1 / SES-16 |
February | Kanopus-V No. 3 · No. 4 · S-Net × 4 · Lemur-2 × 4 – CSES · ÑuSat 4, 5 – TRICOM-1R – Falcon Heavy test flight (Tesla Roadster) – BeiDou-3 M3 · M4 – Progress MS-08 – Paz · Tintin A & B – IGS-Optical 6 |
March | GOES-17 – Hispasat 30W-6 – O3b × 4 (FM13 to FM16) – Soyuz MS-08 – GSAT-6A – EMKA / Kosmos 2525 – BeiDou-3 M9 · M10 – Iridium NEXT 41–50 – Gaofen-1-02 · 03 · 04 |
April | Dragon CRS-14 · 1KUNS-PF · Irazú · UBAKUSAT – Superbird-B3 · HYLAS-4 – Yaogan 31A · 31B · 31C · Weina 1B – IRNSS-1I – AFSPC-11 · EAGLE – Blagovest-12L / Kosmos 2526 – TESS – Sentinel-3B – Zhuhai-1 × 5 |
May | Apstar 6C – InSight · MarCO A, B – Gaofen-5 – Bangabandhu-1 – Chang'e 4 Relay – Cygnus CRS OA-9E · RaInCube – Iridium NEXT 51–55 · GRACE-FO × 2 |
June | Gaofen-6 – SES-12 – Fengyun-2H – Soyuz MS-09 – IGS-Radar 6 – GLONASS-M 756 / Kosmos 2527 – XJSS A · B – Dragon CRS-15 (Biarri-Squad × 3 · BHUTAN-1 · Maya-1 · UiTMSAT-1) |
July | PRSS-1 · PakTES-1A – BeiDou IGSO-7 – Progress MS-09 – Telstar 19V – Galileo FOC 19–22 – Iridium NEXT 56–65 – BeiDou-3 M5 · M6 – Gaofen 11 |
August | |
September | HY-1C – Telstar 18V – ICESat-2 — SSTL S1-4 · NovaSAR-1 – BeiDou-3 M13 · M14 – Kounotori 7 – Azerspace-2 / Intelsat 38 · Horizons-3e – CentiSpace-1-S1 |
October | SAOCOM 1A – Yaogan 32A · 32B – Soyuz MS-10 – BeiDou-3 M15 · M16 – AEHF-4 – BepiColombo – HY 2B – Lotos-S1 No. 3 / Kosmos 2528 – Weilai-1 – CFOSAT – GOSAT-2 · KhalifaSat · Diwata-2B · Stars-AO · AUTcube2 |
November | BeiDou-3 G1Q – GLONASS-M 757 / Kosmos 2529 – MetOp-C – "It's Business Time" (Lemur-2 × 2 · CICERO · IRVINE01 · NABEO · Proxima × 2) – GSAT-29 – Es'hail 2 – Progress MS-10 – Cygnus NG-10 – BeiDou-3 M17 · M18 – Jiading-1 · Tianping-1A, 1B · Tianzhi-1 · Weixing-6 – Mohammed VI-B – HySIS · Blacksky Global 1 · 29 more CubeSats – Strela-3M 16–18 / Kosmos 2530–2532 |
December | Soyuz MS-11 – Eu:CROPIS · ESEO · IRVINE02 · Orbital Reflector (one of 64 CubeSats on the SSO-A mission) – GSAT-11 · GEO-KOMPSAT 2A – SpaceX CRS-16 – SaudiSat 5A, 5B – Chang'e 4 (Yutu-2) – "This One's For Pickering" (RSat-P · CubeSail · total 16 CubeSats) – GSAT-7A – CSO-1 – Blagovest-13L / Kosmos 2533 – Hongyun 1 – USA-289 / GPS IIIA-01 – TJSW-3 – Kanopus-V No. 5 · No. 6 · GRUS-1 · D-Star ONE iSat · D-Star ONE Sparrow · Flock-3k × 12 · Lemur-2 × 8 · Lume-1 · ZACube-2 – Hongyan 1 · Yunhai-2 01–06 |
Launches are separated by dashes ( – ), payloads by dots ( · ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). CubeSats are smaller. Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in brackets). |