Chinese city 'plans to launch artificial moon to replace streetlights'

In Chengdu, there is reportedly an ambitious plan afoot for replacing the city’s streetlights: boosting the glow of the real moon with that of a more powerful fake one.

Jiutian Tower illuminated at night with full moon in the background, Chengdu, China

The south-western Chinese city plans to launch an illumination satellite in 2020. According to an account in the People’s Daily, the artificial moon is “designed to complement the moon at night”, though it would be eight times as bright. The “dusk-like glow” of the satellite would be able to light an area with a diameter of 10-80km, while the precise illumination range could be controlled within tens of metres – enabling it to replace streetlights.

The vision was shared by Wu Chunfeng, the chairman of the private space contractor Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute Co (Casc). Wu reportedly said testing had begun on the satellite years ago and the technology had now evolved enough to allow for launch in 2020.

The People’s Daily report credited the idea to “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”.

The likelihood of Chengdu’s fake moon rising remains to be seen. But there are precedents for this moonage daydream rooted in science, though the technology and ambitions differ.

In 2013 three large computer-controlled mirrors were installed above the Norwegian town of Rjukan to track the movement of the sun and reflect its rays down on the town square. (Read more at Rjukan sun: the Norwegian town that does it with mirrors)

Longer ago, in the 1990s, a team of Russian astronomers and engineers succeeded in launching a satellite into space to deflect sunlight back to Earth, briefly illuminating the night-time hemisphere. The Znamya experiment was to “test the feasibility of illuminating points on Earth with light equivalent to that of several full moons”, the New York Times said. “Several” proved an overstatement, but the design was shown to be sound. (Read more at Russians to Test Space Mirror as Giant Night Light for Earth)

A more ambitious attempt, Znamya 2.5, was made in 1999, prompting preemptive concerns about light pollution disrupting nocturnal animals and astronomical observation. But Znamya 2.5 misfired on launch and its creators failed to raise funding for another attempt.

The People’s Daily was quick to reassure those concerned about the fake moon’s impact on night-time wildlife. Kang Weimin, director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace, Harbin Institute of Technology, explains that, "the light of the satellite is similar to a dusk-like glow, so it should not affect animals’ routines”.

Let's wait and see..

Source - The Guardian