Mirror film. The antenna have a highly reflective film coating that reflects all light from the sun in a specific direction in space, away from Earth.
The parts of the satellite that aren’t flat enough for the mirror film do use the dark paint.
SpaceX has responded to the concerns of astronomers by developing an improved reflective layer for their Gen 2 satellites which directs more of the sunlight away from observers on the ground.
Looks like it is more about the shade. I also wonder if they are able to have a small yaw axis law around the time it is a problem to reduce the reflection on the solar panel, which is hard to shade. That’s a reduced power budget but it may be worth it, the solar panels and batteries they are using are quite cheap.
That’s great to hear! Is this with the shades and paint, or something else?
Mirror film. The antenna have a highly reflective film coating that reflects all light from the sun in a specific direction in space, away from Earth. The parts of the satellite that aren’t flat enough for the mirror film do use the dark paint.
Pretty sure it’s in-house developed black paint.
Black paint was causing heat problems.
Sounds like it’s more about orientation:
Looks like it is more about the shade. I also wonder if they are able to have a small yaw axis law around the time it is a problem to reduce the reflection on the solar panel, which is hard to shade. That’s a reduced power budget but it may be worth it, the solar panels and batteries they are using are quite cheap.
Cool!