China to Launch “Artificial Moon” by 2020

In order to replace streetlamps and to decrease the cost of electricity, China is planning to launch its own “Artificial Moon” by 2020, which is expected to be eight times brighter than the natural moon. The city of Chengdu in the southwestern Sichuan province is working on the development of “artificial moon” also known as “illumination satellites” which will shine along with the real moon, but the light will be more in comparison to the natural moon.

This is going to be the first man-made moon and it will be launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. As the demand for the artificial moon is increasing, China is expected to launch three more artificial moons by 2022. But it all depends on the first test, if it goes well, according to Wu Chunfeng, who is the head of Tian Fu New Area Science Society, the organization who is behind the whole project. Wu Chunfeng also informed that the first launch will be experimental and the 2022 satellites “will be the real deal with great civic and commercial potential”.

The Artificial Moon is going to reflect light from the sun and the moon and this could, soon replace street lamps in urban areas, thereby saving an estimate of 1.2 billion Yuan or 170 million dollar, which is the cost of electricity in a single year of Chengdu city. The extraterrestrial source of light could also help in the rescue efforts in disaster zones during emergency and blackouts. Apart from Tian Fu New Area Science Society, other universities and educational institutes, which include the Harbin Institute of Technology and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, are now involved in developing Chengdu's illumination satellites or artificial moons.

As China’s space programme has already thrown a challenge to catch up with the space programmes of the United States and Russia, number of unique and ambitious projects are in the pipeline, which also include the Chang'e-4 lunar probe, which is named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology and is going to be launch later this year. If the mission is successful, it will become the first rover to explore the dark side or unexplored part of the moon.

Though China’s innovative exploration is no doubt the talk of the town, but such innovation is not something very new. In the 1990s, Russian explorers and scientists used giant mirrors in order to reflect light from space in an experimental project called Znamya or Banner.