Trevor Paglen's Orbital Reflector satellite to launch with Elon Musk's SpaceX

In November 2018, American artist Trevor Paglen's Orbital Reflector, a nonfunctional satellite, will launch into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket funded by billionaire Elon Musk. The project began in 2015 when Paglen proposed the idea to the Nevada Museum of Art, but lacked funding until Musk stepped in. The diamond-shaped satellite, made of lightweight polyethylene coated with titanium dioxide, will orbit Earth every 90 minutes, reflecting sunlight to be visible from the ground. Its lifespan is only three weeks before it burns up in the atmosphere. A prototype is currently housed at the Nevada Museum of Art. The launch has sparked debate: some see it as poetic, while others criticize it as a waste of money. Paglen, who describes himself as an investigative journalist, writer, philosopher, engineer, and sculptor, previously sent The Last Pictures disc into orbit in 2012. A retrospective of his work, Sites Unseen, opened at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in June 2018.