2024-05-02T00:31:45-04:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150093281/chinese-city-to-launch-artificial-moon-into-space-what-could-possibly-go-wrong Alexander Walter 2018-10-29T19:13:00-04:00 >2018-10-30T17:03:35-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/ae/ae4064c3533d0d89aa1d1b8e0c856f09.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>It might sound like a plot cooked up by a cartoon villain, but a city in southwestern China is aiming to launch into space an artificial moon that could replace streetlights by bathing the ground in a &ldquo;dusk-like glow.&rdquo; [...] the satellite&rsquo;s mirror-like exterior would reflect sunlight down to Earth, creating a glow about eight times brighter than the moon. The artificial moon, which he said would orbit about 500 kilometers above Earth, could save $174 million in electricity from streetlights.</p></em><br /><br /><p>The capital of China's Sichuan province, Chengdu, could have its own illumination satellite&nbsp;'moon' up in the skies by 2020, according to the <em><a href="http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/1016/c90000-9508748.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">People's Daily</a></em>.&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/763450/light-pollution" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Light pollution</a>, and its documented health effects on humans and nocturnal wildlife, doesn't seem to be much of a concern to the officials behind the audacious&nbsp;space-mirror scheme. As Kang Weimin, Director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace at Harbin Institute of Technology, attempts to reassure: "The light of the satellite is similar to a dusk-like glow, so it should not affect animals&rsquo; routines." &ndash; Okay, we're all cool.</p>