the year 2020, china is launching an artificial moon into the sky.
This moon isn’t just for photo ops, the artificial moon is intended to replace streetlamps
and lower electricity costs, and I’m going to tell you everything you need to know, right
now on IO.
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How cool would it be to look up into the night sky and see more than just one moon?
Well if you live in china, it looks like that’s going to become a reality in the next couple
of years.
Chinese news outlets have reported that In the southwestern chinese city of Chengdu,
illumination satellites are being developed, as in, man made moons.
The artificial satellites are going to be launched up into the sky, and light up the
night along with our natural satellite the moon.
The difference is, these artificial satellites are going to be 8 times brighter than our
moon.
The first moon is more of an experiment, and it will launch from Xichang satellite launch
center in Sichuan.
If the first experiment goes well, 3 more artificial satellites will come in 2022.
The organization that’s responsible for these epic man made moons is the Tian Fu New
Area Science society.
They have huge hopes for their project and expect that they will have great civic and
commercial potential.
Who knows, maybe the rest of the world will follow in china’s footsteps, and soon many
major cities will also have their own artificial satellites.
Its no secret that we need to start thinking of ways to reduce energy costs and our environmental
impact.
Street lights take up a lot of energy.
Hundreds of thousands if not millions of light bulbs light up our city streets.
But what if we could, instead of having millions of lightbulbs burning up fossil fuels, have
an artificial moon that lights up the street for absolutely everyone, regardless of where
you are in your city?
Sounds like an epic idea to me.
The artificial moons have a reflective coating, that reflects light from the sun back to the
earth, just like our natural moon.
The artificial moons are also going to be a lot closer to earth, about 500 kilometers
or 310 miles away.
Our natural moon is over 380 thousand kilomters or 236 thousand miles away.
Its estimated that these artificial moons could save up to 170 million dollars a year
in electricity costs just for one city, and they will illuminate up to 50 square kilometers.
Another huge plus, is these artitifial moons wont be affected by natural disasters.
Whenever theres a natural disaster like a tsunami or a hurricanee, theres often blackouts.
Hundreds of thousands of people and huge areas lose power, and that makes finding people
need of rescuing that much more difficult.
But with an artificial moon, areas affected by disasters will be illuminated, even during
a blackout.
If you think this idea is way out of left field, china isn’t the first country to
try to do this.
Back in the 1990s, Russia launched an orbital mirror that was intended to reflect sunlight
on some of its less sunny northern cities.
But unfortunately, the project failed and was abandoned by 1999 because the mirror didn’t
unfold and actually burnt up in the atmosphere.
There are obviously still some concerns.
Like are these artificial moons really such a good idea, and how effective could they
actually be?
Will they damage the environment, disrupt the habitat of nocturnal animals, or cause
unnecessary light pollution, something the earth definitely doesn’t need more of.
The artificial moons wont completely wipe out the need for street lights though.
The brightness is still only going to be about one fifth of the brightness of normal street
lights.
For now, testing is being done in an uninhabited desert, so that the tests don’t interfere
with people or with earth based observation equipment.
But some are concerned that the artificial moon could have a serious effect on wildlife.
Many animals are sensitive to both the light and the phases of the moon.
They live their lives based on the moon, its phases and the light it reflects.
Birds use the moon during mating rituals, they mate during the full moon because of
the light it emits.
Nocturnal eagle owls communicate with each other with throat displays, using white, reflective
throat feathers.
This activity increases during full moon nights because there is more light emitted by the
moon.
Another type of wildlife that could be affected by additional moonlight is coral.
Coral species in release their eggs and sperm during the full moon.
If there are two moons, especially another moon that’s a constant full moon that’s
going to at least double how bright the night is, is that going to confuse the animals and
plant life that are so reliant on the moon?
Well, its definitely possible.
More testing needs to be done to make sure that these man made moons don’t have a negative
effect on the environment.
But regardless, its still a cool idea, and im definitely excited to see what happens.
Would you be down for a second moon in your city?
Let me know in those comments.
For now its time to do some comment replies.
Roohoolah Shahrami – Hey!
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Yes, I do have ears.
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Stop Motions – charlotte you are a great narrator, you make all of the potatoes proud.
Ghilex – charlotte sing the potato national anthem.
Oh potato, our favourite vegetable, or is it a starch, who ever really knows.
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We love to cook our potatoes, with recipies we’ve found.
Potato queen, keep us, glorious and free, oh potato we stand on guard for the.
Oh potato we stand on guard for thee.
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