''Orbital Reflector'' is a reflective, mylar sculpture by

Trevor Paglen Trevor Paglen (born 1974) is an American artist, geographer, and author whose work tackles mass surveillance and data collection. In 2016, Paglen won the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize and he has also won The Cultural Award from the ...

launched into space as a temporary

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

. Co-produced by the

Nevada Museum of Art The Nevada Museum of Art, is an art museum in Reno, Nevada. Located at 160 West Liberty Street in Reno, it is the only American Alliance of Museums (AAM) accredited art museum in the state of Nevada. The museum has chosen a thematic approach, placi ...

, 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. ''Orbital Reflector'' launched on Monday, December 3rd, 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 Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

to the Earth's atmosphere. However, the deployment was delayed by the

2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown The United States federal government shutdown from midnight EST on December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019 (35 days) was the longest U.S. government shutdown in history and the second and final federal government shutdown involving furlough ...

- 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, constituting

space junk Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacecr ...

References

External links

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Analysis of orbital lifespan
{{Orbital launches in 2018 Spacecraft launched in 2018 2018 sculptures Satellites orbiting Earth Kickstarter-funded artworks Kickstarter-funded spacecraft SpaceX commercial payloads Derelict satellites orbiting Earth Passive satellites

See also

Further reading

References

External links