Chinese city wants to replace streetlights with "artificial moon"



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According to the People's Daily, the artificial moon, which is essentially a brilliant satellite, will be launched in 2020.


Moon

The Chinese city of Chengdu wants to replace the lampposts with an "artificial moon".

According to the People's Daily, the artificial moon, which is essentially a brilliant satellite, will be launched in 2020, courtesy of the Institute's Research Institute of Microelectronics Systems and Science. aerospace of Chengdu.

The artificial moon will be eight times brighter than the real moon, says the People's Daily, and will illuminate an area of ​​10 to 80 kilometers in diameter, but its range can be controlled to a few tens of meters.

The moon will turn around the city at an altitude of 500 km and will be one of three artificial moons sent into space over the next four years. According to ABC, the moon could save about 1.2 billion yuan ($ 240 million) in electricity costs each year. And, unlike conventional streetlights, it could also be used to illuminate areas that are not powered or have suffered natural disasters such as earthquakes.

The idea came from a French artist who suggested that a "necklace made of mirrors above the earth … could reflect the sun in the streets of Paris all over the place. year, "says People's Daily.

This is not the first reflection satellite planned. Russian scientists tried it in 1993; a second trial in 1999 triggered "pre-emptive concerns on light pollution disturbing nocturnal animals and astronomical observation, " The Guardian reports.

Kang Weimin, director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace, Harbin Institute of Technology, told People's Daily that "the light from the satellite looks like a glow similar to that of twilight so it should not affect animal routines. "

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