Some astronomers think that objects like the Humanity Star and Orbital Reflector—passive, flashy satellites without a clear scientific or commercial purpose—don’t belong in space. They warn that very bright objects could disrupt astronomical observations by ground- and space-based telescopes if they zoomed through their fields of view at the wrong time. They argue that launching satellites without a scientific purpose amounts to the pollution of near-Earth orbit, an increasingly crowded place where even the International Space Station has to adjust its orbit every now and then to avoid colliding with debris.

The controversial Humanity Star is coming back to Earth early.

“This project brings nothing that we don’t have already,” Mark McCaughrean, a scientist at the European Space Agency, tweeted recently about Orbital Reflector. “We already have plenty of moving lights in the sky to engage the public with & draw them to the majesty of the night.”

For some astronomers, the space around Earth is akin to terrestrial areas that people have long sought to shield from the effects of human encroachment. Like glacial waters or wildlife habitats, the space above our heads requires protection, they say.

“I think that most people would appreciate a little more reverence for the natural world rather than inserting yet another artificial structure,” Caleb Scharf, the director of the Columbia Astrobiology Center, told me this week. “Paglen is highly creative, and has clearly delved deep into this work, but for those of us who spend our lives contemplating and communicating the cosmic, this seems to miss the critical point that the unobscured night sky is an endangered beast best seen in the raw.”

Paglen, the artist behind Orbital Reflector—known for his work photographing scenes from U.S. surveillance infrastructure—isn’t buying it.

“Why is Orbital Reflector specifically more problematic than the hundreds of other satellites and rocket bodies launched each year?” Paglen asked in a recent interview with ArtNet. He chafed at astronomers who wonder why someone would want to launch a satellite without a specific purpose, in the traditional sense.

“Implicit in that question is the idea that art is not a good thing and that artists should not be participating in this form of production,” Paglen said. “Why are we offended by a sculpture in space, but we’re not offending by nuclear missile targeting devices or mass surveillance devices, or satellites with nuclear engines that have a potential to fall to earth and scatter radioactive waste all over the place?”

Astronomers don’t overlook these types of satellites, Scharf says. “A majority of scientists are indeed pretty offended by the military or surveillance use of space, and likely more concerned about those uses than a short-lived artistic satellite,” he says.