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Lighting a big city at night can be very expensive and leave a huge carbon footprint. It is therefore interesting to listen to other ideas on how to brighten the streets of a city in a more environmentally friendly way. It was to be the Chinese city of Chengdu, which represents one of the three most populated cities of western China. The idea of solving this problem is unusual and the least original: place a second artificial moon in the sky.
Chengdu, a city in southwestern Sichuan Province, is developing "bright satellites" that will illuminate next to the real moon, but will be eight times brighter, according to the China Daily.
The first artificial "moon" will be launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, said Wu Chunfeng, head of the project's lead organization, the science company of the new Tian Fu region. If the first launch is successful, three more will be launched in 2022, he added.
The city has already approved the plan proposed by a private aerospace company to launch this large orbit reflector satellite capable of continuously reflecting the sun's rays from the city.
Advantages and disadvantages
The first launch will be experimental, but satellites launched in 2022 "will be real" and will have "great civic and commercial potential," Wu said in an interview with China Daily.
Reflecting sunlight, satellites can replace urban lighting in cities and urban areas, saving about 1.2 billion yuan a year ($ 170 million) in electricity in Chengdu City, when the artificial moon illuminates an area of 50 km2, said the official.
The extraterrestrial light source can also contribute to relief operations in areas affected by disasters and power cuts.
Since a large amount of electricity in Chengdu is generated by coal plants, the plan certainly offers a carbon neutral alternative. This is an idea about solar energy that had not been considered yet. Not at least, so ambitious.
Media is available
The progress of this project was presented as part of a national activity of innovation and entrepreneurship in the city that plans to create the luminous satellite. The program takes a few years of development, but now the technology is available.
Some have worried about the effects that the light of the camera might have on the routines of some animals or on astronomical observation.
The researchers said, in this sense, that the light would not disturb any nocturnal activity of the wildlife and would have a minimal ecological impact, although that remains to be seen. It is hard to imagine that an artificial nighttime glow would not have an impact on the behavior of animals, or even on that of plants. Clearly, it is something that is also currently making artificial light.
There have been attempts 30 years ago
China is not the first country to try to capture the sunlight. In the 90s, Russian scientists used giant mirrors to reflect the light of space, as part of an experimental project called Znamya or Banner.
The project was to launch a solar reflection system, a "spatial mirror", designed to produce a light "equivalent to three to five full moons" covering an area of about 5 kilometers.
Another Russian attempt to launch a space mirror in 1999 failed before taking off.
The company that will develop the idea also believes that this false moon could become a tourist attraction, which will bring people from around the world to meet the unusual nightlife of Chengdu.
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