About:
- Information about the project has so far been incomplete.
- According to media reports, the artificial moon would be a mirror orbiting Chengdu at a height of 500 km. It would reflect the sun’s light at night, and supplement street lighting in Chengdu.
- The artificial moon’s brightness will be around eight times that of the moon and would be a fifth of streetlights.
- If the experiment proves successful, two more such moons could be sent up by 2022.
- Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute Co Ltd, a private institute is handling the project.
Benefits:
- The objective is to provide an alternative means of street lighting and save on electricity.
- It could illuminate an area of diameter between 10-80 km. If the illuminated area is 50 sq. km, it would save an estimated 1.2 billion yuan ($170 million) a year in electricity costs for Chengdu.
Challenges:
- At an altitude as low as 500 km, and considering a diameter small enough to be economically viable, accuracy is key. Missing the angle of reflection by even a few degrees would miss Chengdu by miles.
- Also, there must be sufficient glow, but if this glow covers a large area, it could potentially affect the daily cycle of animals and plants, and even affect the human circadian system — the body clock.
Earlier attempts by Russia:
- The idea to have a satellite reflect light at night isn’t new.
- In 1999, Russia sent up Znamya 2, a plastic mirror with a diameter of 65 ft. It managed to reflect a narrow beam of light. The two-and-and-half-mile-wide beam travelled for about eight minutes across part of the Atlantic Ocean and then across Europe, including Russia.
- Six years later, Russia launched Znamya 2.5, which was meant to be a larger mirror, but it did not deploy properly. The idea of sending up a giant mirror in the sky died with it.
