We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. The Chinese city of Chengdu wants to replace streetlights with an "artificial moon." According to the state-run People's Daily, the artificial moon—which is basically a glowing satellite—will launch in 2020, courtesy of Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute. The artificial moon will be eight times brighter than the real moon, People's Daily says, and will light an area between 10 to 80 kilometers in diameter, though the range can be controlled within a few dozen meters. The moon will orbit the city at a height of 500 kilometers, and will be one of three artificial moons sent into space over the next four years. According to ABC, the moon could save approximately 1.2 billion yuan ($240 million) in electricity costs every year. And, unlike conventional streetlights, it could also be used to light up areas that don't have power or that have suffered natural disasters such as earthquakes. The idea came from a French artist who suggested that a "necklace made of mirrors above the earth...could reflect sunshine through the streets of Paris all year round," People's Daily says. This is not the first reflective satellite that has been planned. Russian scientists tried it in 1993; a second go in 1999 prompted "preemptive concerns about light pollution disrupting nocturnal animals and astronomical observation," The Guardian reports. Kang Weimin, director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace, Harbin Institute of Technology, tells People's Daily that "the light of the satellite is similar to a dusk-like glow, so it should not affect animals' routines."
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We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. The Chinese city of Chengdu wants to replace streetlights with an "artificial moon." According to the state-run People's Daily, the artificial moon—which is basically a glowing satellite—will launch in 2020, courtesy of Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronics System Research Institute. The artificial moon will be eight times brighter than the real moon, People's Daily says, and will light an area between 10 to 80 kilometers in diameter, though the range can be controlled within a few dozen meters. The moon will orbit the city at a height of 500 kilometers, and will be one of three artificial moons sent into space over the next four years. According to ABC, the moon could save approximately 1.2 billion yuan ($240 million) in electricity costs every year. And, unlike conventional streetlights, it could also be used to light up areas that don't have power or that have suffered natural disasters such as earthquakes. The idea came from a French artist who suggested that a "necklace made of mirrors above the earth...could reflect sunshine through the streets of Paris all year round," People's Daily says. This is not the first reflective satellite that has been planned. Russian scientists tried it in 1993; a second go in 1999 prompted "preemptive concerns about light pollution disrupting nocturnal animals and astronomical observation," The Guardian reports. Kang Weimin, director of the Institute of Optics, School of Aerospace, Harbin Institute of Technology, tells People's Daily that "the light of the satellite is similar to a dusk-like glow, so it should not affect animals' routines."