Space art could be so much more than a shiny satellite in the sky

For the artist as provocateur, the night sky is an enticingly vast canvas. The latest attempt to make a mark on the heavens comes from Trevor Paglen, an artist known for outsized works that rely on technological innovation.

His new piece, Orbital Reflector, is a giant diamond-shaped balloon that will inflate once it is in orbit around Earth. It is expected to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 2 December. The 30-metre-long structure is coated in titanium dioxide, which will reflect the…