Reflect Orbital: The Stanford Dropout Taking on the Sun

In a world where Stanford startups increasingly churn out iterations of food delivery apps and poorly disguised duplicates of ChatGPT, original thinking and boundless ambition are rare traits. However, these traits are at the core of Reflect Orbital, an energy startup with a mission so audacious it borders on science fiction: selling sunlight after dark. The company, founded by Stanford dropout Tristan Semmelhack ‘26 and Ben Nowack, aims to solve one of humanity's oldest limitations—daylight—by controlling and redistributing sunlight from space.

During an interview with the Review, Semmelhack shared the vision behind the company: "At the highest level, we’re selling sunlight. We’ve developed a system where we can project a 5-kilometer-wide spot of light anywhere in the world after sunset." 

Reflect Orbital plans to sell sunlight by placing a massive mirror in space that reflects sunlight onto the Earth, a strategy that the Soviet Union tried many years ago. 

The idea sounds impossible—almost absurd—but it’s grounded in a certain truth: Humans need energy, and sunlight remains one of the most powerful and underutilized resources we have. Reflect Orbital wants to change that.

Semmelhack’s journey is just as interesting as the company’s mission. An engineer at heart, Semmelhack has been building physical objects since he was a child, from drones in middle school to more complex machines by high school. In 9th grade, he had already started his own drone design business. During two gap years, he later worked at Zipline, a pioneering drone delivery company. His decision to drop out of Stanford wasn’t made lightly but came after realizing that academia would suffocate his drive to build world-changing technologies.

Reflect Orbital’s concept of selling sunlight is based on a recognition of an untapped demand for light, especially in industrial processes that slow down or halt after sunset. “Construction projects, for example, could move twice as fast with continuous daylight,” Semmelhack explained. The potential applications range from lighting up entire cities to providing solar farms with much-needed energy during the night.

The journey to secure funding for such an ambitious venture wasn’t easy. Reflect Orbital caught the eye of Sequoia Capital, becoming the firm’s first space investment since SpaceX in 2020. “It took us a while to close the deal,” Semmelhack admits. Investors struggled to grasp the concept, often questioning the feasibility of reflecting sunlight from space on such a scale. But a viral video demonstration with over two million views showcasing their technology and approach eventually won investors over.

Technically, the challenges Reflect Orbital faces are as large as its vision. “Atmospheric scattering, clouds, and precision are all hurdles we’re working to overcome,” Semmelhack noted. To tackle these, they’ve brought on experts from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to validate the physics and ensure the project’s feasibility. According to Semmelhack, while the energy beamed down will slightly dissipate due to absorption by the atmosphere, scattering itself won’t be a significant issue, allowing for efficient transmission of light across vast distances.

The startup’s ambition extends beyond just energy, though. Semmelhack emphasizes the potential of their technology to fundamentally change how cities and industries operate at night. “Lighting is a massive market,” he said, pointing out that major cities like Los Angeles spend tens of millions annually on lighting infrastructure. Reflect Orbital’s satellites could replace traditional streetlights with projected sunlight, Semmelhack told the Review, drastically reducing costs and energy consumption.

As for the broader implications of Reflect Orbital’s work, Semmelhack sees it as a return to first principles in the energy debate. “We’re constantly bouncing between different energy sources—fission, fusion, renewables—but sunlight is something we already know powers everything. The question is, why don’t we control it yet?” 

Reflect Orbital’s solution: Harness energy from space and beam it down when and where it’s needed most.

At a time when the startup scene at Stanford seems increasingly focused on short-term gains and incremental innovation, Semmelhack is clear about his belief in the future of deep tech. "Startups should be ambitious and tackle real, physical challenges. The future isn't just more software; it’s hardware—solving the kinds of problems that fundamentally change how we live."

Reflect Orbital isn’t just a company; it’s a bold statement about the kind of ambition that seems all too rare at Stanford today. As Semmelhack put it, "Things can be so much more different than they are, and reality is often just a configuration, not an optimum. There’s a lot of global maximums out there we haven’t yet discovered." For Reflect Orbital, the sky isn’t the limit—it’s just the beginning.

Reflect Orbital will be at Stanford’s job fair next week. If you’re a Stanford startup pushing the bounds of what’s possible, send an email to eic@stanfordreview.org. We’d love to hear your story!