Fake moon will shed light on Chinese city

Scientists say an artificial moon could provide eight times the light of a real full moon and do away with the need for streetlights
Scientists say an artificial moon could provide eight times the light of a real full moon and do away with the need for streetlights
ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/GETTY

A Chinese city plans to send an artificial “moon” into orbit in 2020 to help light its streets at night.

The scheme follows experiments by Russia in the 1990s in which a 20-metre solar mirror called Znamya 2 produced a beam just over three miles wide that had roughly the luminosity of a half moon before it fell out of orbit.

Chinese scientists believe the technology has advanced sufficiently to merit trying to illuminate the southwestern city of Chengdu using sunlight reflected from an orbiting satellite.

Wu Chunfeng, chairman of the state-owned Chengdu Aerospace Science and Technology Microelectronic System Research Institute, said that the concept of an artificial moon had gained traction with the local authorities who believe it could replace streetlights in the city