China plans to launch a second moon into space
The Chinese city of Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan province) may soon become the owner of unusual street lighting, more typical of fantasy scenes. The "artificial moon" project has been conducted by Chinese developers for several years and has already reached the implementation stage. The launch of the device into low-earth orbit is planned in 2020. It is expected that the second moon will be several times brighter than the real one and will become part of the street lighting in Chengdu city. Space LightingOriginally, an unusual space "lamp" was conceived to complement the night illumination of a Chinese city, covering an area of 10-80 kilometers. The device contains a powerful reflector to redirect sunlight to the desired space. The second moon can be controlled remotely. Additional details and details of the project have not yet been announced, but engineers and local authorities say that the artificial moon technology will help to spend less electricity to illuminate city streets. It is also planned that the development will be of interest to many and will attract more tourists. Cosmic night illumination does not promise to be very intense, so on the streets it will look more like dusk, however, according to the engineers, such lighting is enough to confidently move and distinguish objects. Chinese experts voiced the opinion that this kind of technology will not have a negative impact on biological species living in the night mode. Environmental scientists do not agree with this statement. Also, some specialized experts suggest that the launch of the project may disrupt the natural rhythms of the local population. The concept of the experiment itself is not an exclusive Chinese idea, the artificial moon project was created, inspired by the idea of a French artist, who proposed to launch massive mirrors into near-earth orbit. According to the artist, they will reflect the light of the Sun, as a result, Parisian streets will be illuminated all the time. USA experienceSimilar projects to simulate natural lighting were carried out in the 90s in USA. In total, three tests were carried out, among which only one was crowned with success, but the scientific program was subsequently closed. A project called Znamya-2, during which a large mirror-reflector was installed on the USA Progress spacecraft in the immediate vicinity of the Mir station, was successfully completed. Passing through it, sunlight hit the territory from the south of France to the west of USA. The next experiment was incomplete. According to the project plan, it was supposed to install a 25-meter reflector, which could form an illuminated spot up to seven kilometers in diameter. It was assumed that the rig could be manipulated to keep the bright trail in one place, but the project failed. It is believed that such technologies can really be useful in practice. So, lighting installations will become a good helper in emergency areas in the absence of other lighting. In addition, the artificial moon can be used in agriculture to increase the length of daylight hours. The Topic of Article: China plans to launch a second moon into space. |
