Chinese city wants to launch a false moon to light its streets | Smart News

A French artist once imagined a cosmic version of the famous film of Versailles. The Hall of Mirrors, which would propose the creation of an artificial moon powered by a necklace of mirrors, would reflect the light in the streets of Paris. This bold plan never materialized, but as a Chinese media People's Daily According to reports, an illumination satellite inspired by this idea could illuminate the streets of Chengdu as early as 2020.

The satellite, also known as the artificial moon, will light up a stretch of the city southwest of China to the southwest with a light eight times brighter than that of the real moon. If all goes well, the false moon will produce enough light to replace the Chengdu street lights. according to Asia TimesChengdu's artificial moon will have a highly reflective coating that reflects the sun's rays through solar-panel-like wings. The angles of these wings can be adjusted to create an accurate lighting range of several tens of meters.

Wu Chunfeng, director of the Institute for Research in Microelectronic Systems for Aerospace Science and Technology Chengdu, unveiled the singular plan at a national event on innovation and entrepreneurship Mass held last week. Quoting the French mirror collar imagined as the impetus for the project, Chunfeng explained that the technology behind the satellite had been on trial for years but was finally nearing completion.

Although Chengdu, the capital of China's Sichuan province, is the focus of the man-made moon, astronomers around the world will apparently be able to spot the satellite's glow as they scan the night sky. Giulio Calenne from the Chinese Mall CIFnews writes that this idea has raised concerns among those who fear that artificial light will harm wildlife and astronomical observation.

Kang Weimin, director of Harbin Institute of Technology's aerospace school, refutes these concerns, telling Calenne that the satellite will produce a twilight-like glow too dim to turn night into day.

For the moment, details about the proposed Moon – including satellite specifications, cost and launch date – remain rare. As FortuneThis is what Don Reisinger said, Chengdu officials hope the project will generate a financial windfall, allowing the city to reduce electricity costs and attract tourists.

This is not the first time that researchers have tried to light the sky with artificial rays. The telegraphReporters Without Borders' Joseph Archer reports that in 1999 Russian scientists launched a spaceship equipped with mirrors designed to illuminate the sunless streets of Siberia.

The aircraft, dubbed Znamya 2, sank shortly after takeoff and was later abandoned. However, the underlying concept adopted by experience – which The New York Times described at the time as a test of "the feasibility of illuminating Earth points with light equivalent to that of several full moons" – remains an alluring prospect. And, by 2020, this could even become a reality.

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