China artificial Moon illustration.
Oct. 19, 2018
Beijing would like to reflect sunlight on Earth overnight to achieve lighting savings.
China wants to launch in space by 2020 an "artificial Moon", which would reflect on Earth the sunlight during the night and would achieve savings in lighting, said Friday a state media.
Russian project "Mayak satellite"
This satellite equipped with a reflective film would be responsible for illuminating the large city of Chengdu (southwest) and should be eight times brighter than the lunar body, reports the China Daily.
A first copy should first be sent to space, followed by the success of three others in 2022, Wu Tengfeng, the head of the Tianfu New Area Science Society, told Xinhua.
"The first Moon will be mainly experimental, but the three sent in 2022 will be the real finished product. They will have great potential in terms of services to the people and from a commercial point of view, "Wu said.
Significant electricity savings
By sending sunlight back to Earth, the satellite, which would evolve at an altitude of 500 km, is supposed to be able to partially replace streetlights. It could save Chengdu about 1.2 billion yuan (about 170 million francs) of electricity a year if it can illuminate an area of 50 square kilometers.
The artificial light source could also be used after natural disasters, by deflecting solar rays to terrestrial areas where power was cut off, Wu Chunfeng said. AFP could not contact Mr. Wu or his institution directly.
Russian project "Znamya"
Beijing has for many years been conducting an ambitious space program to catch up with the United States and Russia. The country plans to send a small robot named Chang'e-4 on the far side of the moon by the end of 2018.
China is not the first country to try to reflect the sun's rays on the Earth. In the 1990s, Russian scientists had developed a similar project called Znamya ("Banner"), stopped after some tests.
Images, Text, Credits: Tianfu New Area Science Society/IEEE Spectrum/AFP/GM Productions/Mike Fisher/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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