Guess what?
China has announced plans to launch an “artificial moon” into our skies by 2020.
And, as crazy as that sounds, it’s not actually the first time something like this has been
attempted.
But first.
China’s new plan.
As reported in China Daily, China plans to launch an “illumination satellite” into
orbit above the city of Chengdu.
Well actually, four illumination satellites.
The first as a proof of concept in 2020 and the next three as the real deal in 2022.
There aren’t a ton of details about the satellites themselves yet, like how big they
are or what they will be made of, but we DO know they’ll be covered with a “reflective
coating similar to the moon’s”?
Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
At the proposed distance of 500km, a single satellite is expected to illuminate an area
between 10 and 80 km, with light around “8 times brighter” than the moon’s.
If all goes to plan, the scientists hope the moons will replace street lights in urban
areas and save the city millions in electricity costs annually.
They could also help light up streets during natural disasters and blackouts.
Those same benefits are what prompted Russia to try something similar 20 years ago, in
what was called Project Znamya.
In 1993, Russia successfully deployed their own prototype of an illumination satellite,
about a 20 meter reflective film that unfolded in space.
For a few hours, it orbited a couple hundred meters above earth, beaming a 5km wide spotlight
over Europe.
But, that light only moved at about 8 km/hour, meaning most people just saw a flash in the
sky as it passed.
Eventually, it fell out of orbit and burned up on reentry.
The Russians tried this again a few years later, this time with a 25 meter mirror.
However, the satellite failed to deploy, and it quickly fell out of orbit.
There were plans to launch a third, even bigger mirror, but the project faced serious budgeting
issues and was later abandoned.
So China’s plan is essentially picking up where Russia left off, taking note of their
mistakes and making something that will actually work, right?
Well, as critics have been quick to point out, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The first, and probably biggest, issue with China’s proposed scheme concerns the height
of orbit.
In order for a satellite to track a single city on earth, it would need to be in a geostationary
orbit, about 36,000 km above earth.
At the proposed 500 km, China’s satellites would face the same problem that Russia’s
did, whipping around earth, quickly lighting up random places for a fraction of a second
as they go- which isn’t exactly the goal.
And even if 500km was a typo, and they meant to say 36 thousand, a satellite at that height
would need to be extraordinarily large - hundreds of meters across- to reflect much back to
earth.
And while the article doesn’t specify how big China’s sats will be, launching something
big enough could be prohibitively difficult.
Critics also pointed out the plan has no mention of any sort of thrusters or fuel onboard these
satellites.
And that would probably be a necessity since out in space, the satellites-- like the Russian
mirrors-- will experience drag and solar radiation that will eventually push them out of orbit.
The cost of the initial fuel and subsequent refueling missions could outweigh any savings
in electricity costs on Earth.
Reportedly, researchers at several universities and institutes have looked over the plan and
have given it the okay for trial, so maybe we just don’t have all the details.
If that’s the case, and the plan does work, should we be worried?
Many scientists have expressed concerns that these satellites will amplify the light pollution
problems we already have.
Excess light from cities today alters night cycles of animals, the sleep cycles of humans,
and disrupts astronomers’ view of space.
And a project of this scale will likely make those problems worse.
It’s not clear in the reports whether the Chinese government has given these plans any
sort of official backing, So, I suppose for now, we’ll just have to wait and see if
any new moons light up the sky.
You may not be able to launch your own illumination satellite, but you CAN launch your very own
website with Domain.com.
Domain dot com is awesome, affordable, reliable, and has all the tools you need to build a
new website.
They can fulfill all your website needs.
They offer dot com and dot net domain names, and intuitive website builders.
They have over three hundred domain extensions to fit your needs, from dot club to dot space,
dot pizza!
Take that first step in creating an identity online and visit domain dot com.
For more crazy science plans, check out this playlist.
One last thing, the engineer who started the Russian satellite project actually wanted
to test solar sail technology, but he found the prospect of daylight-extension was much
easier to get funding for.
Don’t forget to subscribe, and I’ll see you next time on Seeker.