China recently revealed the plans to launch an artificial moon satellite up to eight times as bright as the real moon and capable of replacing traditional streetlights.
The eager task was declared at a national mass advancement and business enterprise occasion held in Chengdu, a city of 14 million individuals in China’s southwestern region of Sichuan. Wu Chunfeng, the executive of the private space temporary worker Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute Co (Casc) uncovered plans to dispatch an enlightenment satellite alluded to as a “counterfeit moon” that would be eight times as splendid as Earth’s normal satellite and equipped for a zone with a breadth of 10-80km. The innovative satellite “designed to complement the moon at night” has apparently been in the works since for years, but thanks to the rapid advancement of technology it should be ready for launch in 2020.
While the idea of a bright artificial moon definitely sounds interesting, it also raises a lot of questions. People on Chinese social media platform Weibo have been asking how the artificial light would affect sleep patterns and animals.
The satellite is said to have been inspired by the concept of “a French artist, who imagined hanging a necklace made of mirrors above the Earth which could reflect sunshine through the streets of Paris all year round”, and follows Russia’s Znamya project, which was carried out in the 1990s but later abandoned.
