The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: 240B on October 19, 2018, 03:36:21 pm
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Channel News Asia
19 Oct 2018
BEIJING: China is planning to launch its own "artificial moon" by 2020 to replace street lamps and lower electricity costs in urban areas, state media reported Friday (Oct 19).
Chengdu, a city in southwestern Sichuan province, is developing "illumination satellites" which will shine in tandem with the real moon, but are eight times brighter, according to China Daily.
The first man-made moon will launch from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan, with three more to follow in 2022 if the first test goes well, said Wu Chunfeng, head of Tian Fu New Area Science Society, the organisation responsible for the project.
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/new-moon--china-to-launch-lunar-lighting-in-outer-space-10844096 (https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/new-moon--china-to-launch-lunar-lighting-in-outer-space-10844096)
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Golly, there go the Chinese again with ground breaking original ideas!
RUSSIAN scientists are planning soon to unfurl a glistening sheet of plastic in space as a first step toward testing an intriguing notion about turning night into day -- or at least twilight. This from 1993.
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/12/science/russians-to-test-space-mirror-as-giant-night-light-for-earth.html (https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/12/science/russians-to-test-space-mirror-as-giant-night-light-for-earth.html)
And then of course there are the ones that wanted/want? to use space mirrors to reflect sunlight away from Earth to combat globull warming.
https://www.livescience.com/22202-space-mirrors-global-warming.html (https://www.livescience.com/22202-space-mirrors-global-warming.html)
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Great. Another bight (pardon the pun) idea to ruin the night sky for everybody. I think we'd be justified in shooting it down.
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There was a darn good reason the Russians never did it. It would not last long enough to pay back the original cost. This "moon" will have to have a LOT of thruster fuel, which will raise the cost. Once it runs out of fuel, it will become another junk satellite, and clog up an orbital path. The bigger it is, the more it will cost and the faster it will burn through thruster fuel keeping it stable and pointing in the right direction and in the correct orbit.
Vaporware
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There is a lot more to it than just ruining the night sky. Have they calculated what effect this will have on insect and wild animal populations? It's going to confuse the hell out of them.
Also if they plan to reflect sunlight, sunlight is heat. What kind of effect will that have on the weather? or on crops, or on who knows what?
Once you start playing God on this level, it is impossible to know exactly what you are unleashing.
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Why do I have this song in my head?
New moon? You left me standing alone......
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Have they calculated what effect this will have on insect and wild animal populations?
That's a good point. It could even have an impact on the mental health of humans.
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That's a good point. It could even have an impact on the mental health of humans.
I know, right? People doing crazy crap drives me crazy.
This ought to get the FEERS going...
Flat Earthers believe the moon and the sun are the same size — a relatively tiny 32 miles in diameter — and that they orbit around the North Pole.
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Flat Earthers believe the moon and the sun are the same size — a relatively tiny 32 miles in diameter — and that they orbit around the North Pole.
Oh God...
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Didn't Duran Duran do a song about this?
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3a4OTh2Y8w#)
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Why do I have this song in my head?
New moon? You left me standing alone......
@Freya
Funny, I had Bad Moon Rising running through my head.
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6iRNVwslM4#)
Or maybe The Killing Moon?
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSDYapkUXbs#)
UH OH! (http://i64.tinypic.com/24pe03p.gif)
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Austin Texas had artificial moonlight in the 19th century.
Glad someone else is catching up.
(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth32318/m1/1/med_res/)
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth32318/m1/2/
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Austin Texas had artificial moonlight in the 19th century.
Glad someone else is catching up.
(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth32318/m1/1/med_res/)
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth32318/m1/2/
non sequitur
I''m your turbo lover.