The proposal entails sending a 30.5 meter (100 foot) diamond-shaped balloon composed of a lightweight, mylar-like material into space. This will be housed inside a CubeSat and launched to LEO, at a distance of about 575 km (350 mi) from the surface. Once there, the CubeSat will open to release the balloon, which will then self-inflate.

The diamond structure will reflect sunlight, making it bright enough to be seen with the naked eye (as bright as the Big Dipper) for a several weeks. At that point, the Orbital Reflector will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up. So far, Paglen and his partners have raised about 60% of the project’s overall budget of $1.3 million. To raise the final $70,000 they need, he has launched a crowdfunding campaign with Kickstarter.

Ultimately, Paglen hopes that his work of art will draw attention to space and all the activities taking place up there. This includes the satellites that are essential to navigation, telecommunications, transportation, and defense. In addition, there is also the essential monitoring and cutting-edge research being performed by Earth observation satellites, CubeSats, and astronauts aboard the ISS.

While these activities are very important to our society – and in many cases, are part of our daily existence – they remain invisible to us. In this sense, the reflector will make the invisible visible and inspire people to think about humanity’s future in space. It is hoped that it will also focus attention on what we are doing here on Earth, at a time when geopolitical conflicts, economic woes, climate change and human rights abuses are all rampant.

When Paglen approached the Nevada Museum of Art in 2015 with his idea to launch the world’s first satellite (that would exist purely as an artistic gesture), they saw it as a means to change how people view our activities in space and our place in the Universe. As it says on Paglen’s Kickstarter page:

“Art gives us a reason — gives us permission — to look at something deeply. An artwork that pushes the boundaries of what we traditionally think of as “art” challenges the way we engage with the world. Orbital Reflector encourages all of us to look up at the night sky with a renewed sense of wonder, to consider our place in the universe, and to re-imagine how we live together on this planet. It prompts us to ask the big questions. Who are we? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What are we doing to the shared world in which we live?”

This project is also in keeping with Paglen’s artistic method, which is inspired by the landscape tradition. Whereas traditional landscape artist’s and photographers focused on natural settings, Paglen’s work draws attention to infrastructure and the influence it has on us – particularly the infrastructure of mass surveillance and data collection.