An inflatable , elongated diamond - shaped sculpture the length of a football field will orbit the Earth this autumn . The world's first space sculpture will orbit Earth for three weeks this autumn on Elon Musk's rocket and will be seen floating around the planet once every 90 minutes The satellite will be visible in Britain about four times a night as the sun reflects off its shiny surface. The installation , titled Orbital Reflector , is the work of US artist Trevor Paglen and is intended to highlight issues of data protection and surveillance . The sculpture will be in sun - synchronous orbit and will eventually fall to Earth , burning up on re - entry . The artwork will be launched using one of Donald Musk 's SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and is a collaboration with the Nevada Museum of Art , which is exhibiting a version . In 2012 , Paglen projected five images representing human history into space titled The Last Pictures .
An inflatable , elongated diamond - shaped sculpture the length of a football field will orbit the Earth this autumn . The installation , titled Orbital Reflector , is the work of US artist Trevor Paglen and is intended to highlight issues of data protection and surveillance . The sculpture will be in sun - synchronous orbit and will eventually fall to Earth , burning up on re - entry . The artwork will be launched using one of Donald Musk 's SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets and is a collaboration with the Nevada Museum of Art , which is exhibiting a version . In 2012 , Paglen projected five images representing human history into space titled The Last Pictures .